Merthur Advent Calendar
by TbcAddict
Summary: As the title indicates, this is a advent calendar, so each day I'll post a new short story ! Modern AU, Canon, fluff, angst... Can be anything!
1. Chapter 1

Hello ! So here we are, this is Day 1 and the prompt was "First Impression/Meeting".

The setting is a Modern AU.

Enjoy !

* * *

 **First impression/meeting**

Merlin filled the coffee cup, turned around and bypassed the counter to serve it to Gwaine, one of his regular customers and most of all one of his best friends. Since Gaius had fallen sick, Merlin had to take care of the shop all by himself, and he was more than grateful for his customers to be so patient and nice to him. It had now been two weeks since he started serving on his own, and he had yet to meet an impatient or annoying one.

As he made his way to Gwaine, he heard the door open, but didn't give it much attention. People were always coming in and out, and he knew almost all of them, which meant they were always waiting for him to finish with the people he was serving, as they knew he would spend time talking with them too. Merlin was actually quite proud that the shop had become a convivial one, where people came not only to get a coffee but to have a chat. He put the cup on the table in front of Gwaine, who smiled broadly at him, and he smiled back.

"Hello Gwaine, how are you doing? Or rather should I say who are you doing at the moment? "He grinned, and Gwaine snorted.

"How insensitive of you, Merls. You make me feel like I have no heart." Gwaine pretended to sulk and put a hand above his chest. "But, if you must know, no one. Though I wouldn't mind having a second round with this friend of mine who works in a coffee shop, you might know him."

Gwaine gave him a cheeky grin and Merlin shook his head, holding a laugh.

"Nope. That's never happening again, Gwaine, and you know it!"

As Gwaine was about to answer, someone cleared his throat in Merlin's ear, making him jump. He turned around right away to face a blond man that he was sure he had never seen here before. He would definitely remember such a hot guy.

"Uhm… Yes, what can I do for you?" He asked, trying a smile.

"Oh, I don't know, how about a coffee? Or maybe I should go elsewhere, if you're too busy talking to actually do your stupid job! It's not that hard to make a coffee!"

Merlin could practically feel Gwaine getting up behind him, but he was not going to have his friend defend him. No matter how hot that man was, he was an absolute prat, and Merlin would not get insulted in his own shop –even though it was technically his Uncle Gaius's shop.

"Well, yes, I think you should. This is a place where people come to have a talk and drink a coffee. I f what you want is to have yours done in two seconds, and people bowing at you just because you're handsome, then yes, get to another shop! Thank you and goodbye." Merlin said coldly, glaring at him even harder when the prat started to smile.

"Should I understand you think I'm handsome?" He asked, leaning against Gwaine's table.

"No", Merlin huffed. "You should understand I think you're a prat."

"I'm pretty sure you said the word handsome" The prat insisted, and Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever you want. Now excuse me, I have actual clients to serve."

Merlin went to bypass him, but the prat grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at him again.

"I thought you said this was a place to have a chat."

"I did."

"Then what ? I can't have my chat?"

"No. Next time you try to talk to someone, you should try not to insult them".

Merlin freed his arm, took a glance at Gwaine to tell him to let it go, and went back behind his counter. He sighed, and swore he would never wonder when he would meet an annoying client again. Whoever the man was, he obviously thought himself better than anyone, and Merlin couldn't stand this kind of people. He prepared a few more coffees, served them to the clients sitting at the counter, and barely spilled one of the cups when he realized the prat was now sitting across Gwaine, and that they were both talking and smiling. Narrowing his eyes at his friend's betrayal, he was on them in two steps.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He barked at the prat.

"Uh… Talking?"

"You don't get to insult me and talk to my friends in my shop."

"Alright, Merlin, look…" The prat started to say, and Merlin's eyes widened.

"How on earth do you know my name?" He abruptly turned to Gwaine in realization. "You told him my name? Right, now you can be sure I'm never sleeping with you again!"

Gwaine looked like he wanted to answer, but the prat got up instead and placed himself in front of Merlin, blocking his view of Gwaine.

"Look, it's not his fault, he's not the one who told me your name. I asked someone else."

"Why did you even want to know it? So you can make even more fun of me?"

"That wouldn't be very nice, especially since my name's Arthur." The prat –Arthur –said with a little smile.

"I don't care what your name is."

"Right. Listen, I… Actually I came here to see you. My sister, Morgana, is a regular and she basically tells me every day how much I should meet you, because she thinks we would get on, so I thought I might actually give it a try. I, uh…" He grabbed a card from his pocket and handed it to Merlin. "Here's my number. Call me if… If you want to."

Arthur was about to leave when Merlin realized something and grabbed his arm to keep him from leaving.

"Wait! So you basically bawled me out for not getting you a coffee when you didn't even _wan_ t one?"

"Uh…" Arthur looked abashed, and Merlin crossed his arms. "Yes? Alright, I'm sorry, I just didn't know how to talk to you."

"Oh… And I guess "hello" didn't come to your mind?" Merlin snapped, even though he was starting to be more amused than annoyed by Arthur's behavior. Not to mention that Morgana had actually told him about her brother over a thousand times as well, she just never mentioned that he was looking like an actual Greek God, though she did say he could be annoying. Besides, if what she said was anything to go by, she strongly believed he and Arthur could work. But Merlin didn't want to make it easy for the prat for all that.

" Uhm, well, I… Of course it did, _Mer_ lin, but it was just a bit too easy. I'm a man for challenge." Arthur said as convinced and convincing as possible.

"Yeah, sure. Well then, maybe I'll call you, but I suggest you don't hold your breath waiting for it." He said with a sarcastic smile, and pushed Arthur to the door.

"Why did you say that?" Gwaine asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you mean" Merlin muttered.

"You will call him, and we both know it."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. And honestly Merlin, you're a fool if you don't."

"Excuse me? Haven't you heard how he talked to me?"

"He's a asshole, yeah. But do you know why he insulted you?"

"Because he's a sufficient prat?" Merlin shrugged.

"Nope. Because he heard me say I wanted another chance with you, and it's the only thing he found to get your attention. I think he's quite serious about wanting to try it out with you" Gwaine smiled, and Merlin scowled at him.

"Oh yeah? And he told you all that while you were flirting?"

"Well yes, actually. I love you Merls, but you and I would never work as a relationship. You and Arthur, on the other hand… I think you should give it a try."

"Oh my God, you sound like Morgana!" Merlin rolled his eyes and left Gwaine's table to take care of his customers, but he did put Arthur's card in his jacket's pocket, to be sure he wouldn't forget it.

Maybe he should really try. And if Arthur broke his heart, then he could kill both Gwaine and Morgana. He would win on every side.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hello ! So, today's prompt was "Friendship/Rivalry", and the story is set in Canon Era, during season 4 episode 9, so there obviously are spoilers for this episode !_

 _Enjoy !_

* * *

 **Friendship/Rivalry**

Arthur looked out of the window to see Lancelot walking with Merlin, both laughing. The king squinted his eyes and his grip on the ledge of the window tightened. Ever since his former knight had returned from the dead, he felt like something was wrong. He had tried to tell himself that he was only scared that Lancelot would try to get Gwen away from him when they were supposed to get married soon enough, but he eventually had to admit that it wasn't the real problem. Arthur wasn't jealous of him, at least not when he was seeing him with Guinevere. If anything, he was annoyed that people could think the future Queen might still have feelings for the knight, as he didn't want to look like a weakened king, but he didn't care about it. Not the way he cared when Lancelot was anywhere near Merlin.

Arthur was not stupid no matter how much Merlin would beg to differ, he knew his manservant had been close to Lancelot, and he always felt like the two of them shared something more than Arthur himself ever did with Merlin. Every time they were together, they looked like they knew everything about each other, and it annoyed the king that he couldn't get the same thing with Merlin, no matter how much they knew each other. He did know that Merlin cared about him, and considered him his best friend, but he also saw his look the second Lancelot came back from the veil, a few hours ago. Merlin had smiled like never before, as if Lancelot was the best thing that could happen to him, and it hurt Arthur's feelings, no matter how much he tried to deny it. Seeing them through the window now, he could not do anything but admit it: he was jealous of Lancelot's friendship with Merlin.

Not standing it anymore, he rushed out of his room and of the castle, straight towards Merlin and Lancelot.

Hearing him coming, Merlin turned his head and smiled at him.

"Arthur. Do you need something?"

"No. I just wanted to know how Lancelot was doing" He said through gritted teeth, trying to calm his feelings.

"I'm fine, Sire. As well as can be."

" I still don't understand how you could get out of the veil, especially so many months later. You really don't have any idea?"

"No Sire, I do not. I walked through the veil, and the next thing I know is that I was on the road for Camelot."

Arthur nodded, and, eager to get the knight away from Merlin, added "Right. Well, I guess you must be tired. Maybe you could get a bath before the fest tonight?"

Lancelot nodded, and walked away, leaving the King with his manservant.

"So, Merlin, I take it that you're glad to have Lancelot back." Arthur said very calmly.

"Of course I am. It's great that he's back. Though I don't understand how it works either, but do we really care ? I mean, one of Camelot's best knights is back, it would be foolish not to be happy about it."

"Yes, of course."

Not knowing what to add, Arthur gave Merlin some chores to do –his usual way of putting with awkward silences –and went back to his own rooms.

When he left them again and went to the banquet, he realized Lancelot was already there, sitting right next to Merlin, and his chest tightened. He didn't like this feeling, and he definitely didn't like seeing them so close. He should be the one laughing with Merlin, not a dead man who somehow came back. It was as if Lancelot was trying to steal everything from him. First Guinevere, a few years ago, and now Merlin.

* * *

A few hours later, Arthur's grip on his cup of wine had tightened, and he was glaring at Lancelot as soon as he could. Since the fest had begun, Merlin had barely been paying attention to him, and the King almost needed to shout when he wanted a drink or anything. To Arthur, it seemed that Merlin was concentrating so much on Lancelot that he had forgotten him.

More than just a little annoyed, Arthur patiently waited for the fest to end before asking Lancelot to follow him.

"Is everything alright, Sire?"

"Yes. No. Listen, Lancelot, I believe that you are taking too much of Merlin's time, and it keeps him from doing his duties. I therefore need you to step away from my manservant."

Lancelot frowned before replying: "Are you sure this has anything to do with Merlin's chores?"

"Of course I am."

"I think you're simply jealous, Sire. Jealous because since I came back, Merlin's attentions are on me, and not on you like they always have been. You can't stand the fact that he wants to spend time with me more than he does with you, can you?"

"Enough. You have no right to talk to me that way, Lancelot. I am the King, and you shall respect me." Arthur hissed through gritted teeth.

"All right. But you should think about it, Sire. You used to see me as a friend, and now you think of me as a rival. Maybe you should wonder why that is."

As Lancelot bypassed him, Arthur sighed. He could not deny that Lancelot was right, he did think of the knight as a friend at some point, especially during the year when his father was ill, but he didn't need to think of why he was now seeing as a rival. He already knew it, even though he wouldn't acknowledge it.

When he realized Merlin had started to avoid Lancelot the next day, Arthur frowned, but didn't think too much of it. After all, the less time Merlin spent with Lancelot, the more he would be with him.

But when Arthur found Lancelot kissing Guinevere, he could not deny his feelings any longer. Of course he had been angry; he had after all been betrayed, not to mention the betrayal to the kingdom. That's why he had banished her. But then, with Guinevere gone and Lancelot dead again, he had nothing to hide behind anymore, and he was forced to accept his feelings.

If he had been able to consider Lancelot a friend even though his knight was in love with Gwen, and if he now hadn't been able to feel anything but resentment when Lancelot had shown too much interest in Merlin, it was for one and only reason. He had never loved Gwen the way he loved Merlin.

Arthur ran a hand through his hair as realization drawn to him. He was in love with Merlin.

What was he now going to do ?

Then, the King realised that he wasn't betrothed to Gwen anymore, and that he might stand a chance with Merlin as a result. He would now have to make sure his feelings were returned before handing his heart out to his manservant, as he knew he would never stand his rejection.

But really, making Merlin fall in love with him could not be that hard, could it?


	3. Chapter 3

Hi ! Today's prompt is "Family", and the story is set in canon era, but in an alternate universe in which Arthur survived in Camlann (let's say Merlin called Kilgharrah sooner or whatever, it doesn't really matter here) and they both came back to Camelot.

I also wanted to thank you all for reading, reviewing (I'll answer all of you soon), following etc, you're all amazing ! :3

* * *

 **Family**

A week after Arthur and Merlin came back from Avalon after the battle of Camlann, and after Merlin had revealed his magic to his King, Arthur decided it was time to have a real talk. He had forgiven his friend, he had forgiven him barely a few hours after learning the truth, and truth be told, he didn't even care Merlin had magic, what had hurt was the lies. But now, Arthur needed more. He needed to know more about Merlin's magic, and what he had or had not done exactly. The King would have asked him right away, but when Percival had told them of Gwaine's death, Merlin had been devastated, and Arthur didn't have the heart to ask anything from him. He was himself coping with his knight's death, but he knew it was nothing compared to what Merlin felt. He had always been closer to Gwaine than to anyone –except Arthur himself – and Arthur actually wondered whether Gwaine had known about Merlin's magic or not.

So Arthur asked Merlin to join him in his room, in order to have a talk. They both sat on the bed, as Arthur had thought it would be more comfortable for them both, and especially since the last thing he wanted was to make Merlin feel like he had changed his mind and didn't accept him anymore.

"Is everything alright?" Merlin asked, sounding a bit tensed.

"Yes. I just wanted to… Know more. About you being a sorcerer, I mean".

Arthur could see Merlin stiffen, and wondered where he had went wrong, for it was obvious that Merlin wasn't comfortable talking about it with him, and Arthur wanted that to change. He didn't want to lose Merlin, and he certainly didn't want to scare him off.

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Anything. I just… I just want to know you better." Arthur admitted, clasping his hands together.

"You know me, Arthur."

"Yes, but… You know what I mean, Merlin."

"Right" Merlin said, and then he looked up at Arthur, before adding "Then I guess I should begin with telling you about my father."

Arthur frowned, appalled.

"Your father? I thought you didn't know him."

He was afraid of discovering another lie, and what would be one of the worst for him, as he always thought of the fact that they both never knew one of their parents as a strong link between them and one of the things that made Merlin understand him better than anyone. His fear must have shown on his face, because Merlin immediately reached up to him.

"Everything I told you was true, Arthur. He left my mother before I was born, but I… I did meet him. Many years ago, I was already in Camelot and I…"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Arthur asked, cutting in.

"I didn't… He was Balinor", Merlin finally admitted, lowering his eyes as Arthur's own widened.

"Balinor as in… Dear God" Arthur sighed. "At least you go to meet him, I guess. I'm sorry for what I told you, Merlin, he deserved your tears."

"It's fine, Arthur. I got over it long ago. I never got to really know him, so… I guess Gaius is more of a father to me than him."

"Did he tell you why he left ?"

"He didn't know she was pregnant. Your father… Your father was hunting him down, even after he left Camelot, and he knew Uther would find him if he stayed in Ealdor. He didn't want to endanger my mother, so he left, but he never knew about me. Not until I told him, at least."

Arthur swallowed, trying to take it in. Trying to take in the fact that Merlin never knew his father because of his own father.

"I'm so sorry Merlin. For everything my father did to you." He finally said, even though he felt like it would never be enough.

"It's not your fault" Merlin said, frowning.

"Maybe not, but I…" Arthur stopped talking, realizing there was nothing he could say. Though it made him somehow resent his father. He had always defended him, and believed he was not as bad as Morgana, or Morgause or anyone could say, but knowing that he had broken Merlin's family, among many other, was breaking his own heart. Then he thought of Morgause, and he just had to ask Merlin again, believing he would now tell him the truth.

"Was it true? What Morgause showed me, all these years ago? Was it my father who chose to use magic to have an heir? Was it his fault my mother died?"

"Arthur"

"Merlin, please. I need to know".

"Yes", Merlin sighed. "It was true."

"Why did you tell me otherwise then? Why did you keep me from killing him? After everything he did to you, to people like you?"

"I knew you would never forgive yourself, Arthur. It would have broken your heart, and I couldn't let you do this."

Merlin looked up at him, and Arthur sighed.

"Arthur… I'm sorry I lied. Again. But I…"

"No, Merlin, don't… It's fine." Arthur cut in, raising a hand to shut his friend up. "I get it, I understand why you did it. But I don't want lies anymore. I want you to tell me everything you've lied about."

He could see Merlin bit his lip before answering "Everything? That might take a few years, you know."

Arthur crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

"Well, I didn't say you had to tell everything in a row. You started with our families, right? So go on, anything else about them? Do you have siblings I've never heard about?"

"Of course I don't" Merlin said, rolling his eyes. "There's not much to add, really. You've met my mother, and I barely knew my father. And yours, well… Though you might want to know that I knew about Morgana's magic long before you did. I also knew she was betraying you"

Arthur's eyes widened briefly before he closed them and breathed deeply, biting his lip.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Please, Arthur, you never believed me when I told you your uncle was a traitor, are you really going to pretend you have even listened to me if I had told you Morgana wanted to kill Uther and take the throne?"

"No" Arthur admitted, sighing.

"I tried to help her, you know. When she discovered she had magic, I really tried. But I was too scared to tell her I was the same, so she still felt like she was alone, until Morgause showed up and she discovered she was Uther's daughter. And then, well, you know what happened."

Arthur ran a hand through his hair, thinking.

"Gods, I guess I really do have the worse family in all times."

"Yeah, but at least you grew up with one."

"I didn't have a mother, Merlin, and you know it."

"Yes, but you had plenty of people. You had Morgana, Gaius, probably lots of maids taking care of you, and no one ever made fun of you. I'm not saying you were happy, or that you had an easy childhood, I know you didn't. All I'm saying is that you at least didn't have self esteem troubles. Your mother died, she didn't leave, and she has not abandoned you and left you wondering why for most of your life. And you did not spend your entire childhood being almost alone, because no one liked you. Will is the only friend I ever had in Ealdor, you know. The other children, they used to mock us, because we didn't have a father, and because weird things were always happening around me. I know you've been hurt a lot when you were younger, but you're not the only one. And I'm not either. Gwaine was unhappy too, he told me about it long ago. I just mean that your family might be bad, and God knows they were, but you got through it. You became a great King, no matter what you father, Morgana or Agravaine tried to do. We all got through it."

Merlin wouldn't look at him now, and Arthur knew he was almost crying. He always was when he pronounced Gwaine's name, and adding it to his childhood… Arthur couldn't blame him.

But truth be told, he could almost feel his own tears behind his eyes. He knew how hard it was for Merlin, and still his friend had said it all, just to remind him that he wasn't alone anymore, and that he could let his past behind him. It was far from being the first time Merlin said this kind of things to him, but it was the first time it moved him that much. Ever since he almost died in Camlann, since Merlin had told him the truth, Arthur had realized many things, beginning with where his feelings stood regarding his friend. He hadn't said anything, not even to Gwen, because he had to admit he was too much of a coward to risk rejection and end up alone. But if anything, he now knew that he would never be alone. And he wanted, no needed to show Merlin that he wasn't alone either, no matter if Gwaine wasn't there anymore.

So, as he pulled Merlin in his arms, both giving each other comfort, Arthur knew what he would do next. He would talk to Guinevere first, and then he would tell Merlin the truth. He was the one who had said "no more secrets", and it was time to reveal his own, and maybe, just maybe, Merlin would kiss him back, and agree to become his new family. The only family Arthur really wanted and needed.


	4. Chapter 4

(First/last) date/love

Since Arthur had come back after about two thousand years, he was struggling to understand this new world, and how it worked. The mere concept of a shower had taken at least four explanations from Merlin, and the former King still wasn't sure to understand how it worked. And it was the same for pretty much everything. Merlin had said that it wasn't magic but "electricity", but Arthur still couldn't see the difference between the two.

But then, he only came back three weeks ago, so he hoped it would get better. But the objects were not the only changes, as Arthur had discovered a few hours ago. Merlin had left the house for a while, saying he had to go and help the neighbour with his boiler (and Arthur didn't even dare asking what it was), and Arthur had found himself alone.

After an hour, he was bored, and left the house to take a walk in the neighbourhood, and ended up in the tavern –now called pub if he understood what Merlin had said –Merlin and him had gone a few days ago.

After a while, he went to leave, but stopped when he spotted two women in the corner, kissing fiercely. A bit shocked as this kind of relationship had never been allowed in Camelot, but not wanting to drive attention on him, he left and got back to the house, only to realize Merlin had already come back.

Hoping his friend hadn't worried when he came back and saw he wasn't there, Arthur tried a smile.

"Sorry, I was at the uh… pub you show me the other day. I got bored."

Merlin turned around from where he was standing in the kitchen to face Arthur.

"No, that's fine. I wasn't really expecting you to stay here anyway, you never listen to me" Merlin chuckled, and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something"

"Sure, what is it?" Merlin asked, shoving a piece of cake into his mouth.

"Back at the pub, there were two women", Arthur started, and Merlin looked at him expectantly, so he added "kissing", and the sorcerer nodded, moving his hand to tell him to wait for him to swallow his cake.

"Yeah, that's… Things have changed, you know. Now, people are allowed to love whoever they want, whether they be a man and a woman, two women or two men. I hope you didn't stare at them though, that would be seen as rude."

"Rude? Why?" Arthur frowned.

"People would think you're against it."

"But I'm not" Arthur said, rolling his eyes.

"I know. But you can't expect people to understand that the last you saw the sun was two thousand years ago."

Arthur had nodded, and the subject had been dropped. At least in Merlin's mind.

But then, a few days later, Arthur insisted for Merlin to drive them to a restaurant, as he still had no idea how to mount –no drive a car. Merlin had rolled his eyes and grunted, but they both ended on their way to the restaurant Arthur had chosen, claiming he had never been in one –obviously –and wanted to know how it was. He had also argued that it would remind him of his days as a King since people would be serving him, and that was actually when Merlin had rolled his eyes and called Arthur a clotpole.

But in the end, Arthur had won, and Merlin knew he would be smug about it for days.

When they entered the restaurant, a waiter led them to what he referred to as "their table", and Merlin frowned slightly, but decided not to think too much of it.

Then, Champagne was brought, and Merlin really started to wonder what was happening, and then had to explain to Arthur what Champagne was. The former King didn't seem to like it much, but then Merlin said it was an expensive drink, and Arthur seemed immediately much more interested in it, which had the sorcerer roll his eyes, again, and chuckle.

By the time dessert was serving, a few hours had passed, and Merlin had explained about half a dozen dishes to Arthur, but he didn't mind much. He knew it was only the beginning, and that Arthur needed help not to get completely lost.

Then, Merlin started to eat his ice cream, and almost choked when he saw the head of a ring popping out of his dessert. He took it out and looked up at Arthur.

"What the hell is that?"

Arthur choked as well, and shrugged.

"Uh… I don't know, there must have been a problem."

Nodding, Merlin called for the waiter, who seemed to realize his mistake and widened his eyes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! There was mistake! See, the woman for whom the ring is ordered the same dessert, and since both of you had asked for special treatment, so we obviously exchanged the meals!"

Merlin looked at him with his mouth hanging open, and watched him as he took off his plate to bring him another, minus the ring. Then the waiter's words came back at him, and he tilted his head, frowning.

"Wait, what did he mean we asked for a special treatment? I don't remember asking for anything."

He saw Arthur wince, and raised a brow.

"Hum I might have… Fine, I called them before we came, I found the number in your book where you wrote people's numbers and addresses. I said your name, and I said…"

Arthur bit the inside of his cheek as Merlin looked at him expectantly.

"I might have said I wanted it to be some kind of romantic involvement" Arthur mumbled as quickly as he could.

"Wait, are you saying this was a date?" Merlin asked, not believing what he just heard.

"Uh… What is a date?"

"Right" Merlin sighed, and then he stood up, aware of Arthur's eyes following him, and squatted in front of Arthur, before sliding a hand behind his head and pulling him in a kiss. Arthur responded eagerly, and when they pulled away, Merlin smiled "That's a date", he said, and Arthur leaned in, stopping millimeters away from his mouth.

"Then I guess we should have a second date, right?" He whispered, and kissed him again.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi! Sorry for posting this late, I had a really busy day! Anyway, the prompt was "childhood", and today's story is a bit more high-rated than the others (mention of sex even though there is no actual sex, and yes it can be weird since the prompt is "Childhood", but there's nothing weird I swear XD)

Hope you'll like it !

* * *

Childhood

The day Merlin moved in with Arthur was the day he saw the picture, and Arthur now cursed himself for not hiding it away before his boyfriend came in, since there was now no way Merlin would ever leave it alone.

It had started as a good day, and Arthur had been excited to know that the man he loved was finally going to live with him, though he would never let Merlin know just how much it pleased him –he still had his own pride, thank you very much. It would also be the first time Merlin actually came to his place. Not that Arthur was ashamed of his home, if anything he was proud of it, but as the CEO of a huge company, he had to spend a lot of time away from his home and desk, and for the past year, he had spent all his time in another city, where he had met Merlin. He did know that he wouldn't stay there forever, but unwilling to leave his lover behind, he had asked him to come back to London with him. He still was surprised when Merlin had said yes, but nothing had ever made him happier.

However, when Merlin had finally arrived, and had taken a look around the house before Arthur could even think of proposing to do so, he found it. Arthur should have known, really. But he had forgotten about it, and only remembered when Merlin had come back to him with a picture in his hand, and his eyebrow raised higher than Arthur had ever seen anyone do.

"You never told me you used to go to medieval clubs when you were a child" Merlin had laughed, and Arthur had glared at him.

"It wasn't a medieval club, you idiot! It's called _fencing_ , and I'll have you know that it actually is a sport!"

"Yeah, a sport for posh prats"

Arthur had snorted, and had grabbed the picture from Merlin's hands, putting it on the table.

"You're just jealous."

"Jealous? Why, because I didn't have the chance to play with a _fake sword_ when I was ten? Oh yeah, I am so jealous, you have no idea!"

"You can laugh, Merlin, I don't care. At least I didn't do a stupid musical when I was ten!" Arthur had answered sarcastically with a huge grin, and Merlin's mouth had hanged open in outrage.

"That was one fucking time, and I didn't exactly had a choice! Besides, there's nothing wrong with musicals, at least they're not outdated like fencing! I'm pretty sure you loved it though, made you feel like you were a knight in shining armour, didn't it?"

"Oh,you hurt me, Merlin, I thought you knew me better than that. It made me feel like a King, nothing less." Arthur had said with a cocky smile and looked as Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Right, how could I forget just how much of a prat you really are", he had mumbled and Arthur had shut him up with a kiss.

* * *

Though it might have stopped Merlin from mocking him at the time, but it didn't stop him for long. It had become one of his boyfriend's favourite things to mention it at any time, just to annoy him. Like now. Merlin was doing the dishes after breakfast and at the same time babbling about Arthur's childhood skills at fencing, wondering what use it was now of, or something like that, since Arthur had stopped listening when he heard the word "fencing". But as time grew, he got bored, and grabbed Merlin's waist, forcing him to put the dishes down and to turn to face him.

"What are you doing?"

Arthur didn't answer and instead opted to lean in for a kiss. Merlin kissed back forcefully, and Arthur pushed him back against the counter, peppering kisses along his neck, and then down on his naked torso.

"Now Merlin, stop babbling about my childhood or I'll have to make you."

"You know, there's no way I'm gonna stop if it gets me this", Merlin half-laughed, and Arthur stopped his movements, right when he was getting between his lover's legs.

"Fine. Then I won't do anything like this with you until you agree to never speak of it again."

"Arthur, come on" Merlin moaned, wrapping his arms around him to bring him closer.

"Say it", Arthur demanded, and Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I swear I'll never make fun of you practicing _fencing_ as a child. Happy?"

Arthur hummed and kissed him for a few seconds, before pulling back and away from him.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"Showing you I'm serious about this, love." Arthur winked and left the room to the background, smiling even though he knew Merlin would make him pay, and that Merlin's paybacks were always much more imaginative and harsh than his own, but he didn't care. Right now, he had won.


	6. Chapter 6

Hi ! Here we are with Day 7 and the theme of "Stars".

Enjoy !

* * *

Stars

It was now three years since Arthur had become King, and despite having been with Merlin for two of them, he still hadn't managed to ask him to be his Consort. Not that Arthur didn't want to, he truly did, but he could never find the right time. Even when the kingdom was in peace, and that nothing was troubling them, the King still couldn't manage to find five minutes to just ask Merlin. Well, that wasn't actually completely true, he could find five minutes, but it would be the worst proposal ever, and it was definitely not what Arthur wanted.

He also didn't want an audience, and that meant he had to find a time when Merlin was not with Gaius, nor Gwaine, nor servants, and not completely exhausted and basically falling asleep. So in the end, Arthur decided that it was all Merlin's fault for always being surrounded or tired or in a bad mood.

So the King had almost given up trying to find the right time when Merlin dragged him to the tavern one evening. "Come on, let's have some fun!" He had cheered, and Arthur had rolled his eyes, but had followed anyway. And then, after a few hours drinking and playing dice with the knights, his lover had grabbed his arm and led him outside.

"Do you plan on dragging me from place to place all night?" Arthur grumbled, and Merlin smiled.

"Yes."

The King rolled his eyes and pulled Merlin closer to him and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"What are we doing here?"

"Nothing, it was just too loud inside" Merlin said, and then, pointing to the sky "Did you know that all the stars we can see have been off for a long time, but they're still reaching to us because of some time distention or something?"

"Why do you think I would care for stars? How do you even know that ?"

Merlin shrugged and looked up at him.

"Gaius had a lot of books. I just happen to read. You know what reading is, don't you?"

"Very funny, Merlin" Arthur pretended to sulk and Merlin smirked, before looking up at the sky again.

"It's a very starry night anyway. My mother used to say that each star has a story, and that each of us has a lucky star following us night after night."

"You do know that these are only stories, right?"

"Of course I do" Merlin replied, slightly elbowing the man behind him. "But I like that story. Will and I used to sneak out at night to lie on Ealdor's hill and watch the stars."

Arthur chuckled in Merlin's ear before adding "Yeah, I guess that's something you would do!"

"Hey!" Merlin protested, turning to face his King.

"What? I didn't mean it in a bad way, I just…" Arthur stopped, realizing that now was the moment he had been waiting for for so long. They were alone, the others being probably too drunk to even notice they weren't there anymore, and Merlin had just said he liked stars, so it was probably a safe bet to assume he would like being proposed to under a starry sky.

"You know," Arthur smiled, "Maybe your mother was right. Maybe we do all have a lucky star. I most certainly do."

"Really? And which one is it?"

Merlin was still looking up, so Arthur gently touched his chin, making him meet his eyes again. "Can't you guess?". Merlin frowned before answering "I can hardly see how I can guess what star is your lucky one. They all look the same. Though, that probably means you can't know which one it is either, because no one could be able to distinguish a star from another, but then maybe there is…"

Arthur sighed and resisted the urge to hit himself at Merlin's stupidity. Grabbing his arm to make him stop talking after what seemed to be forever, Arthur almost shouted "For God's sake, Merlin, I was talking about you!"

Merlin did stop talking and looked at him, frowning. "What?"

"I was talking about you! I was only trying to say something nice so I could then finally ask you to marry me, but you just had to go and ruin everything, didn't you?"

Merlin's eyes widened slightly before he rolled his eyes, mumbled a "oh, shut up" and grabbed Arthur's face to kiss him forcefully.

"Wait… Does that mean you…"

"Yes", Merlin nodded, "I'll marry you, you prat."

Merlin kissed him briefly and Arthur looked after him as he started to walk, away, shocked. It was not the way he had wanted things to go, at all, but well, it had worked in the end.

"Oh, and Arthur?"

"Yes?"

"Just so you know, I perfectly knew you were talking about me."

"What? Then why did you do all this speech on stars and…"

"Because, unlike you, I do have a brain –and Gwaine as a friend –and there was just no way I was going to make this easy for you. I mean really, if I hadn't pushed you, you'd still be "trying to be nice before actually asking"".

Arthur's jaw hanged open and Merlin grin, and then started to run as Arthur came after him.

" _MERLIN!"_


	7. Chapter 7

Ice skating/skiing/sledding

"Arthur, I really don't feel like it !" Merlin admitted, voice trembling, and Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Merlin, come on, what are you even afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid!" Merlin snapped. "I told you I had never skied before, and you could just have said "Alright, then we'll stay in the chalet and do stuffs" but no, you just had to go and force me to do it!"

Arthur chuckled and placed himself behind Merlin to wrap his arms around him.

"Arthur, stop, I'm gonna fall!"

"No you're not. We're far enough from the edge, you idiot." Arthur said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, great, make fun of me now! I swear, I'll never go in winter holidays with you!" Merlin grumbled.

Arthur smiled and pressed a kiss on Merlin's temple.

"Fine, we can go home if you want to."

"Yeah, and you'll be in an awful mood because you didn't get to ski and it's going to make me feel guilty, and then mad at you, and we'll have horrible holidays!" Merlin mumbled, and Arthur gently slapped his arm.

"Hey, I'm not as awful as you say! I just told you, if you want to leave, we can."

Merlin turned to face him, and squinted his eyes.

"No being mad at me for keeping you from skiing?"

"'Course not", Arthur snorted, and Merlin's eyes narrowed even more.

"Oh my God, what did you do?"

"What?" Arthur asked, frowning.

"You're never that nice unless you need me to forgive you for something. So go on, what is it?"

"Dear God, Merlin, I didn't do anything! I actually am a nice person, that's all."

Merlin looked at him suspiciously and then widened his eyes in what looked like understanding.

"Oh no, I get it! You really are a prat!"

"What now?" Arthur asked, torn between rolling his eyes and sighing and laughing.

"You're pretending to be the perfect boyfriend so I'll feel guilty and say yes to ski. Well, that's not going to work, I just knew you couldn't be that nice!"

Arthur raised a brow at Merlin's accusation and then did sigh.

"That was absolutely not my intention. I'm not as mischievous as you are."

"No, you're worse." Merlin snorted.

"Absolutely not. I told you, I was only asking you if you'd rather go home, with no intention of making you feel guilty or whatever."

Arthur was starting to get annoyed. It had been a quite fun at first, but not anymore. Not when his boyfriend seemed genuinely sure that he couldn't just be nice and unwilling to force him to do anything he really didn't want to do. As Merlin kept scrutinize him, Arthur sighed angrily and grabbed his arm.

"Fine. I was really just being nice, you know, but since you obviously want me to be some kind of evil boyfriend, I'll grant your wish. Come on!"

Arthur pulled him nearer to the edge, ignoring Merlin's calls. As they got closer and closer, he tightened his grip on Merlin and started to go down the snow-covered hill, even though he had only one stick, since his other hand was full of Merlin's arm. Obviously, and as Arthur knew they would, they quickly lost their balance and end up rolling in the snow.

Arthur pinned Merlin down and straddled him.

"Gods, Arthur, why did you do this?"

"Are you hurt?"

"No, but…"

"Well then, see? You had nothing to be afraid of, even if you fell , you're not hurt."

"Yeah, that's mostly because I fell on you and your fat arse" Merlin said teasingly, and Arthur elbowed him in the ribs.

"Was that your plan all along?" Merlin asked.

"No. I really wanted to go home if you didn't want to do it, but then you got me mad. You really can't believe I can be nice, do you?"

Merlin shrugged, and got on his elbow to be able to kiss him.

"No, I know you can be. I just like to annoy you."

Arthur glared at him briefly before laughing and he kissed him again. They stayed on the snow-covered floor for a while before Merlin said "Arthur, you do realize that our chalet is up there and we'll have to ski the way up?"

Arthur looked up and realized Merlin was right.

"Well, I guess it's time for you to learn how to ski, 'cause there's no way I can carry you and go all the way back up."

Merlin shrugged and smiled. "You got me down here, so you'd better think of something to get me back up, love, 'cause there's no way I'm going to ski the way up."

Arthur almost snorted before realizing Merlin was looking at him with his "I'm not joking" face. He rolled his yes and looked down at Merlin.

"Well then, I hope you're not hungry, because I feel like we're going to stay down here for a while."

Merlin's eyes widened slightly before narrowing, and Arthur perfectly got the message. It was now a question of who would give up first. And he would be damned if he did, since Merlin would never leave it alone.

He'll just have to make Merlin give in, then.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey ! We're already on day , and today's theme is "Decoration of the house/tree", and this is Modern AU. Hope you'll like it !

* * *

 **Christmas decoration of the house/tree**

When Arthur got home that day, he found Merlin up a stepladder, trying to hand Christmas decorations. Rolling his eyes, je cleared his throat, startling Merlin who almost fell.

"Arthur! You're back!"

"What are you doing?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh… Decorating the house? You said you didn't want to do it, so I thought I could as well do it when you were at work. I didn't think you'd be home so soon." Merlin explained, getting down onto the floor.

"I didn't say I didn't want to decorate the house, Merlin" Arthur sighed."I said I didn't want the house to be decorated at all."

Merlin frowned, walking closer until he stood right in front of him.

"What ? But why? It's Christmas!"

"I don't like Christmas" Arthur simply said, before bypassing Merlin to grab a glass of water.

"What? How can you not like Christmas? Everyone likes Christmas!"

"Well, I don't. So please take all of these off." Arthur said coldly and Merlin crossed his arms.

"No I won't."

Arthur sighed. "Merlin, come on, it's no big deal. Just take them off."

"It's my house too, Arthur. And I like Christmas, so I don't see why we should do as you want!"

Arthur put the glass down violently, before turning around to face Merlin again. "Well, technically, it's not your house, Merlin, it's mine. So if I want the decorations off, you take them off."

Merlin narrowed his eyes, grabbed one of the garlands that were on the floor next to him, and threw it violently at Arthur.

"Fine! Don't worry, there won't be any decorations in your precious house anymore, and I won't bother you either, I'm leaving !"

Merlin had stormed out the house before Arthur could even think of something to say. Left alone in the living room, Arthur sighed. As usual, instead of explaining things to Merlin, he had managed to piss him off by saying things he didn't even think. He had only wanted the decorations off, he never meant to fight with the man he loved, let alone anger him so much that he would leave the house.

Fully aware that Merlin would come back at some point, even though it was only to grab his stuffs, Arthur knew he had about a few hours to make it up and find something to convince Merlin to forgive him. Biting his lip, he eyed the room before he finally got an idea, and started to get to work.

* * *

When Merlin decided to go back home, he had calmed down a little. It was, after all, completely stupid to fight over whether the house should be decorated or not, and it was definitely not how he had wanted to spend his first Christmas living with Arthur. Though he was still mad at his lover for implying that because the house was at his name, he had every right and Merlin should just do everything Arthur wanted, and he had every intention to let Arthur know that he'd better never say something like that again.

But went he entered the house, he found himself breathless. The entire living room had been decorated, as well as the Christmas tree, and it had been done beautifully. Frowning, he looked for Arthur, who was nowhere in sight. Merlin was about to call out for him, when he spotted him getting out of the bedroom. Arthur's eyes widened slightly when he saw him, and his lips twisted in a tentative smile.

"I thought you would have taken everything off", Merlin said softly.

"Me too" Arthur admitted, shrugging. "Look, Merlin, I'm really sorry for what I said. Of course this is your house too, and you have every right to do as you wish. I just… I really don't like Christmas" Arthur sighed.

"Then why did you decorate it all?" Merlin asked, his arms still crossed.

"Because I love you more than I hate it." Arthur said, and Merlin's eyes softened. He reached out to his boyfriend, and took his hand.

"Why do you hate Christmas so much?"

"I… I don't really hate it, it's just… We never celebrated Christmas, in my family. Not after she died, and since she died giving birth to me, well… Anyway, I spent my whole childhood listening to the others being so excited about it, and the gifts they would get, knowing I wouldn't have anything. I never decorated my own house when I got one. So, having my house decorated, it… It brings all sorts of bad memories."

Merlin bit his lip slightly and brought his hand to stroke Arthur's cheek.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. Look, if you want, I'll take all of this off, we don't really need to have a decorated house, after all".

Arthur smiled and brought Merlin's hand to his lips. "No, leave it. When I decided to decorate the house for you, I realized that I do want to have a real Christmas with you. I want to spend every Christmas with you. Your mere presence is making it up for all those years." Arthur said softly, staring into Merlin's eyes until Merlin slid a hand behind his head and kissed him forcefully.

"Does that mean I can also decorate the rest of the house?"

"Don't push it, love" Arthur said before kissing him again.


	9. Chapter 9

**Drunken night**

Merlin was just about to go to sleep when his phone rang. Sighing, he picked it up and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, are you Merlin?" A man's voice asked him.

"Yeah, who are you?"

"I'm a bartender, at the Rising Sun. There's uh… There's a guy over here who's completely drunk and I can't get him out, so I took his phone and your number was on top of the list, so I called you." The man explained quickly, and Merlin sighed loudly.

"Oh God, which one of my friends is it?"

"I don't know his name. He's got blond hair, tall, blue eyes ? Reminds you of anyone?"

"Yeah" Merlin rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll be there in ten minutes."

He hung up and quickly dressed himself before getting in his car. Damn Arthur. Even after leaving him like their relationship had never meant anything, the prat still managed to annoy him.

When he made it to the pub, he easily found Arthur, as his blond head still seemed to shine, no matter how gone the man was. He made his way to him, and pushed his shoulder gently, sitting next to him.

"Arthur?"

Only a grunt answered him, and he rolled his eyes.

"Come on you prat, we have to get out !"

His voice finally seemed to get to Arthur, who slightly lifted his head from where it rested on his arms to look at him.

"M'lin?" Arthur murmured, as if he couldn't believe his own eyes.

"Yeah. Come on now, we've got to go."

Merlin grabbed his arm and pulled him up, before sliding an arm around his waist to secure him. He paid the bartender and left, pulling Arthur with him. He shoved him into the car and drove back to his flat, sighing loudly.

Arthur kept silent the whole time, and Merlin actually thought he had fallen asleep, only to realize he hadn't when he opened the passenger door to get him out of the car.

"We're at you home?" Arthur managed to ask once Merlin had gotten him out.

"Yes. It didn't seem very safe to leave you alone in your state."

"'m perfectly fine" Arthur grumbled as Merlin dragged him inside of the house.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say."

After closing the door behind them, Merlin managed to push Arthur into the spare bedroom.

"Come on, get to sleep, so you can leave in the morning."

"Don' wanna leave…"

Merlin rolled his eyes and was almost at the door when Arthur added "Miss you". He froze for a second, before shaking his head. Arthur was drunk, and didn't know what he was saying. And even if he did, it wasn't Merlin who had decided to leave after almost two years of being together.

So Merlin went to leave the room, but Arthur had somehow managed to get up and he pulled him towards the bed.

"Merrrrr –lin" He slurred, trying to bury his face in Merlin's neck.

Merlin gently pushed him away and tried to get up again but Arthur still had more strength than him, even completely drunk, and he found himself being pushed back on the bed with Arthur lying on top of him.

"Arthur, what are you doing?" He asked a bit sharply, as he didn't exactly like this proximity now that they had broken up.

"Mhh…" was Arthur's only response as he started to nib along his neck, and Merlin finally managed to push him away.

"Arthur, fuck, stop! I don't care that you're drunk, you have no right to… Damn it!" Angered, Merlin got up and left the room, shutting the door, but he still heard Arthur's soft "I love you", and it still broke his heart. He shouldn't have gone to the pub to get Arthur, and he knew it.

Shaking his head, he went back into his own room and changed into his night clothes. He was about to get in bed when he heard the door open and sighed, fully aware that it could only be Arthur.

"M'lin"

"Arthur, please, just go to bed."

"'Kay" Arthur said and he jumped in Merlin's bed, grinning up at him.

"I meant the other bed" Merlin grumbled.

"I wanna stay with you".

"No way" Merlin answered firmly, and Arthur's grin disappeared.

"I miss you."

"Then you shouldn't have left" Merlin said coldly, kicking him out of the bed.

"Didn't want to" Arthur said, frowning, and Merlin froze.

"What do you mean, you didn't want to?" He asked, even though he knew there was about zero chance Arthur was in the mind to answer him properly.

"Forced me to" Arthur answered, looking up at him with wide eyes, and Merlin narrowed his eyes.

"Excuse me? _I_ forced you to leave?" He almost shouted, knowing that he shouldn't get mad because Arthur was drunk, and probably not telling the truth, but it still angered him to hear that it was his own fault.

"Not you" Arthur rectified, still frowning. "Fther."

Merlin's eyes widened in realization, and he decided to push his luck.

"Your father forced you to leave me?"

Arthur nodded, and reached Merlin to throw himself in his arms. "M'sorry" he whispered, burying his face in Merlin's neck.

"But… Why…" Merlin was at loss with his words, and Arthur pushed him on the bed, and curled around him, resting his head on his chest.

"Please M'lin. Don' wanna talk. Just hold me."

Still shocked, and not sure whether Arthur had said the truth or not, Merlin nodded, and when he realized what he had agreed to, Arthur had already fallen asleep on him, and he didn't have the heart to wake him. So he waited for sleep to get him to, and tried to push all the things they would need to discuss to the following morning. But the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Arthur had no right to come back and say all these things to him, just because he was drunk. He was the one who had left, and Merlin deserved to be left alone to cope with the breakup and get over it. He certainly didn't need a drunken Arthur telling him he still loved him.

In the end, he fell asleep being more angry at Arthur than anything.

 _To be continued…_


	10. Chapter 10

**Hangover**

When Arthur woke up, he felt dizzy, and had a huge headache. Then he remembered going at the pub, and groaned. He obviously had gotten himself drunk, and, if the state of his hangover was anything to judge by, it had been pretty bad. He couldn't remember anything after he started to drink, and wondered how he had managed to come back home. Shifting in his bed, he suddenly realized that he was not lying in top of his sheets, but on top of another body. He was afraid to open his eyes and see that he had had sex with a complete stranger while being so drunk he couldn't even remember meeting anyone.

He finally managed to gather his strength to open his eyes, and he almost fell out of the bed when he realized he had fallen asleep on top of _Merlin_. Then, looking around, he saw that he wasn't even in his home, but in Merlin's house. What on earth had happened? Not that he minded waking up near Merlin again, he still loved the man more than his own life, but he hadn't been very happy when Arthur had walked away, and there was no way he would have simply agreed to have Arthur in his bed again.

Wanting answers, he gently elbowed his ex-boyfriend in the ribs, trying to wake him up. When Merlin finally started to move and to shift, Arthur decided to ask.

"What the hell am I doing here?"

"You invited yourself, so please don't annoy me and get out" Merlin mumbled.

"Merlin!" Arthur huffed. Then, slightly hitting him again, "Merlin, come on!"

"What ?" Merlin snapped, and Arthur groaned.

"Uh, don't yell, my head hurts!"

"Oh, sorry, am I supposed to care?" Merlin snorted, and Arthur glared at him.

"Why am I in your bed?" Arthur asked again.

"You got in it by yourself, so now let me sleep."

"Merlin, come ooon. Oh, my head hurts so much. Do you still keep your drugs at the same place ? I feel like I'm going to explode. What happened, how did we get here? Did I do something stupid?"

"You mean like throwing yourself at me, trying to kiss me and saying you still love me? Yes you did. And yes, drugs are still at the same place, thank you and goodbye" Merlin said, still not even opening his eyes.

Arthur was mortified. Had he really done all of this? But, since his head was hurting so bad he could barely think straight, he managed to get up and to the bathroom to take something to soothe the headache.

He came back in the living room as Merlin was getting out of the bedroom.

"You want some coffee?" Merlin asked casually, and Arthur sighed. Why couldn't Merlin just show how he felt ? It would be so much easier for him.

"Are you going to tell me what happened or not?"

"Sure", Merlin said. "The bartender of some pub called me because you got completely drunk, and since I didn't really want to be blamed for any accidental wound you would have managed to do to yourself, I took you here."

"And how did I end up in your bed?"

"I told you, you jumped in it and didn't leave me much of a choice."

Arthur rubbed his temples, and tried to fight his hangover.

"Right. Well then, I guess I should go. Sorry for disturbing you."

Arthur got up, but stopped when he heard Merlin snort.

"Yeah, and how are you going to go home? It's not like you can drive. Or like you had your car."

"I uh…" Arthur lost his trail when he realized Merlin was right.

"Look, you can stay here until you feel better. I've got to go anyway, so it's not like I'll have to actually stay with you." He said coldly and Arthur bit his lip.

"I'm sorry" He finally said, and Merlin turned to him.

"For what? For leaving me like I meant nothing, or for getting so drunk that you kept telling me that you missed me?" Merlin shouted, obviously mad, and Arthur held his head.

"Gods, Merlin please stop yelling."

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I hurting your head?" Merlin still shouted, sarcastically.

"Merlin.." Arthur all but whined.

"No, you know what? I don't care if your head hurts, it's your fault for getting drunk! And really, what was even your reason? Don't you have everything you ever wanted?" He snapped, and Arthur looked up at him.

"I don't have you".

It was obviously not the right thing to say, if Merlin's face was anything to go by.

"You had me. You left me. You have no right to come back and say you're unhappy because I'm not with you. You're the one who chose to throw me away".

Merlin had every intention to stop there and leave, but then he changed his mind and added "Or was it your dear father?"

Arthur's eyes widened, and he bit his lip.

"How do you…"

"That's something you said last night", Merlin cut in. "You said you didn't want to leave but that your father forced you too. So what is it?"

Arthur almost whined again. His head was hurting so bad, and he really didn't want to talk about this in this state. He had always thought that if he was ever to tell Merlin the truth, he would do it properly, but certainly not like this.

"I… Yeah"

"Yeah? Yeah what?"

"Gods, Merlin, please… I'm begging you, stop yelling!"

"Then answer me. Why did you leave? You didn't even give me any kind of explanation, I just woke up and you were gone."

"Merlin, I'm so sorry, I…"

"I don't care that you're sorry" Merlin cut in. "I want to know why."

Arthur sighed and took a deep breath.

"My father… He discovered that I… was really serious about you, and you're not… Well, you don't exactly fit in the life he planned for me. So he told me that I could either leave you, or he would make sure to ruin your life. I know him, he would have called everyone just to make sure you were fired and would never get a job, he could even get you out of your house, so I…"

"So you decided to leave instead of fighting? You could have at least told me."

"I'm sorry. I did it because I love you."

"No, you did it because you're a selfish prat! You did it because it made you feel better to think that you protected me, but guess what? I would rather have been unemployed because of your father but happy with you than to be like this! You broke my heart, Arthur, and there's no one else but you to blame."

Merlin had shouted once again, but Arthur kept himself from asking him to stop yelling once more, no matter how bad his head was hurting, and how much he just wanted to get to bed and sleep for a large amount of time.

"I was trying to do the right thing" he sighed.

"Well you didn't. Not for me."

There was a short moment of silence before Merlin added "Besides, we've been together for what, two years? Is your father so slow he only got now that we were serious about it?"

"No, but he didn't think it was serious enough for us to think of marriage."

"But we didn't think about marriage".

"You didn't. I did. I… I bought a ring." Arthur admitted, sighing, while Merlin's eyes widened.

"You what?"

"I wanted to marry you. I still do, to be honest. You're the best man I've ever met, Merlin, and you make me happier than anyone else. But I…I thought I couldn't be selfish enough to make you lose everything you had just so I would be with you".

"But you didn't even ask me what I wanted." Merlin sighed. "I would have chosen you, Arthur. No matter what your father can or can't do."

As Merlin stopped talking, Arthur got up, and gently took Merlin's hand in his.

"What about now? Would you still choose me now?" Arthur asked hopefully, and Merlin hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. Arthur grabbed his face and slowly leaned in to kiss him. Merlin kissed him back, and when they separated, needing air, Arthur wrapped his arms around his waist and rested his head on Merlin's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry." He sighed, nuzzling Merlin's skin.

"Just… Never do this again. Don't leave me without at least telling me why."

"I'll never leave you again. Ever."

They stayed like this for a while, before Merlin pressed a kiss to Arthur's shoulder.

"How are you feeling?"

"Awful. I still feel like my head is going to explode, I'm cold, and I'm tired. I'm never drinking again."

"Good. You deserve it." Merlin said before adding "Fine, go to bed, I'll bring you something to make you feel better."

Arthur kissed his cheek and went to the room, but stopped before entering it.

"What about my father?"

"Leave him be. When he'll tire of trying to make us miserable, maybe he'll stop."

Arthur nodded and went into the bed. He knew that it didn't mean everything was solved. Leaving alone the fact that his father would not take it well, he knew Merlin hadn't forgiven him. He might have accepted to give him another chance, but Arthur wasn't stupid, he knew he would have to regain his trust. And he would. He now knew that he had made a mistake by trying to protect Merlin, and he would be worth of his love for the rest of their lives.

But, since his head still ached and he was really tired, he would start making amend later, when he would wake up and not feel like someone was hitting his head with a hammer anymore, when he'll be in the right mind to make it up to Merlin, and to finally stand against his father, as he should have done from the beginning.


	11. Chapter 11

**Movie night /Cinema/Theater/Concert**

"So, what do you want to watch?" Merlin asked when Arthur arrived at his flat. They had been dated for about a year, and they were used to spending their Saturday nights together, to watch movies or do something else.

"I don't know, whatever you want", Arthur answered, smiling, and leaned in to kiss Merlin briefly.

Merlin nodded and put one of his dvds into the player, but Arthur couldn't bring himself to care about which on it was. There was only one thing on his mind, and it had nothing to do with the movies.

Merlin brought popcorn and they settled on the couch. After about twenty minutes, Merlin had shifted positions and was now lying on the couch with his head resting on Arthur's lap. Arthur was running his hand through his boyfriend's hair absent-mindedly, before gently lifting his head to get up, saying he had to use the bathroom.

Merlin didn't think much about it, but when Arthur kept moving about, and getting up every five minutes, he started to wonder if there was something wrong. So he asked, and Arthur answered that everything was fine. The, he stopped moving, but he didn't seem to be watching the movie either. It was quite obvious to Merlin that there was something on his mind, but Arthur didn't seem to be so keen on telling him what it was about.

Then, Arthur started to text someone furiously, and barely looked away from his phone in almost thirty minutes. Getting really annoyed, Merlin grabbed the remote and pressed pause, rolling his eyes when Arthur didn't even notice.

"Alright, what is it?" He asked, startling Arthur who looked up at him for the first time since they settled on the couch.

"Uh? What?"

"I'm not stupid, Arthur. You've been somewhere else since you arrived, I'm pretty sure you don't even know which movie we were watching!"

"Of course I do" Arthur snorted. "It's… Uh… Right, maybe I've been over thinking, but there's nothing wrong,don't worry."

"Do you have problems at work?"

"No, of course not, everything's fine. Really."

Merlin wasn't convinced but nodded anyway and pressed play again, only to stop the film again when it reached the credits, and he realized that Arthur was still on his phone.

"For God's sake, Arthur, is it too much to ask you to at least pretend that you're happy to be here? Because if you had better things to do, you didn't have to come!" Merlin snapped, throwing the phone away.

"Hey! Wait… No, I'm glad to be here."

"Well you definitely don't seem to be." Merlin said coldly, and Arthur placed a hand on his arm.

"Okay, fine, I'm sorry. It was just… Uh.. Morgana."

"Morgana? What does she want?"

"She wanted to… Anyway, it doesn't really matter, does it? Forget it, and let's watch uh.. whatever movie you put on."

Arthur tried to smile, but Merlin only seemed to be angrier.

"The movie's over, Arthur!" Merlin all but shouted before getting up, and Arthur bit his lip, cursing himself, before following him.

"Merlin, wait!"

Merlin reached the front door, and shoved Arthur's coat in his arms.

"I think you should go."

Arthur caught the coat the best he could, and frowned.

"What? No, wait…"

"Look", Merlin cut in, "You obviously don't want to be here, alright, so just leave and go do whatever is on your mind, or see whoever you were texting, I don't care."

"I was texting Morgana, I told you so!"

"Oh please, don't try to make me buy this, I'm not that stupid!" Merlin snapped, and Arthur briefly closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He had ruined everything. To prove his sayings, he grabbed his phone and shoved it into Merlin's hands. "Look, it really was Morgana, I didn't lie to you."

Merlin read a few texts briefly, but his features didn't soften.

"What is she talking about?"

Arthur frowned, and Merlin added "She keeps asking whether you told me something yet or not. What is it?"

"Oh great, you just had to read that one" Arthur sighed, and Merlin narrowed his eyes even further.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is it something I shouldn't have seen?"

"No it's… Damn it, that's really not how it was supposed to go", Arthur cursed, running a hand through his hair.

"How what was supposed to go? What are you talking about?"

"I… Look, if I've been… away tonight, it's because there's something I really wanted to ask you, and I didn't know how to bring it up, and then Morgana kept sending me text to ask how it was going and… Well. Merlin, I really, really love you, and I wanted to know if you… If you'd agree to move in with me?" Arthur said in a breath, and Merlin's eyes widened.

"All of this was… because you want to live with me?"

"Yeah. I know it's not the best way to ask, but…"

"Yeah, it's more like the worse" Merlin mumbled, and Arthur froze. Realising that he had said it out loud, Merlin added "But I wouldn't have it any other way."

Arthur's eyes widened and his lips curved into a smile.

"Do you mean…"

"Yeah", Merlin answered, smiling. "Of course I'll live with you", he added before leaning in and capture Arthur's lips in a kiss. Arthur wrapped his arms around his waist, and when Merlin nuzzled his neck, he took his phone and texted Morgana:

" _It worked."_


	12. Chapter 12

_Okay, I'm so so sorry for not posting Day 12 yesterday, I got overwhelmed by my uni exams and completely forgot, so today I'm posting both days 12 and 13._

 _Hope you'll like them !_

* * *

 **Pillow Fighting**

Arthur woke up to the sound of something crashing down –probably glass, and he sat up suddenly, only to roll his eyes and groan when he realised it was only Merlin who had let the breakfast plate fall down.

"Uh… Sorry" Merlin mumbled and Arthur groaned again, hiding his face in the pillow again and cursing Merlin. Even though he deeply wanted to go back to sleep, he could still hear Merlin picking everything that had fallen up and putting it back on the plate, probably to bring it back to the kitchen. He then stopped paying any attention at it, and jumped when he heard Merlin's voice again.

"Look, since you're awake, you could at least get up, for once" Merlin said teasingly and Arthur grunted but didn't reply.

"Come on, Arthur, get up!" Merlin insisted, and the King, annoyed, grabbed the pillow lying beside him and threw it harshly at Merlin –or at least towards where Merlin's voice seemed to come from, since he didn't bother lifting his head or opening his eyes. He was quite used to throwing pillows at Merlin, and, generally, his manservant just chuckled and went to do whatever he was supposed to do,or grabbed Arthur's arms and pulled him out of the bed. But never, ever had Merlin threw the pillow back. Which is why Arthur actually jumped up, dumbfounded, when he felt the said pillow hit the back of his head. Narrowing his eyes at Merlin, he slowly asked: "What the hell was that?"

Merlin shrugged and seemed to hesitate for a second before answering: "Trying to get you to get up? Hey, it worked, right, you're up!"

"I'm the King, Merlin, you can't throw pillows at me." Arthur added, still narrowing his eyes.

"I just did." Merlin answered firmly, not lowering his gaze, and Arthur's eyes widened slightly.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be?" He all but asked, throwing the pillow back at Merlin with his full strength, and fully expecting his manservant to actually send it back to him once more. But Merlin didn't throw the pillow, instead, he caught it and walked closer to Arthur, until he was close enough to hit him with it without having to let the pillow go.

And that was it for Arthur. If Merlin wanted war, he would have it. Grabbing his own pillow, he aimed at his servant, but found his hit blocked by Merlin's pillow. Groaning "Merlin" threateningly, he only met Merlin's grin, and he tried to hit him again, but got blocked once more. Merlin was apparently much more skilled at pillow fighting then he was with swords. They kept blocking each other's blows until Arthur got bored and, from where he had stood up to have more control over his blows, he didn't throw the pillow at Merlin but his whole body, pushing his startled manservant with him on the bed. Merlin's eyes widened slightly, but Arthur barely noticed, too busy straddling him.

He leaned down until his face ware at mere inches from Merlin's, and he whispered: "Want to yield, Merlin?"

Merlin laughed and lazily pushed the pillow on the side of Arthur's face again. "You wish" he answered, emphasizing each word.

Since Merlin was pinned down beneath him, Arthur had no problem grabbing the pillow and throwing it away from him, onto the floor.

"What about now?" He wanted to insist but barely had time to say "What ab…" before his lips were captured by Merlin's. Arthur kissed back eagerly and sat up on Merlin's lap, forcing the other man to sit with him so they wouldn't have to pull apart. He felt Merlin's arms wrapping themselves around his waist, and brought one of his own hands down Merlin's neck to hold on to his back.

They only pulled back and ended the kiss when they heard the door of Arthur's chambers open, and Merlin pushed him away out of reflex. Arthur ended up on the floor at his feet, and Merlin let out a laugh and held out a hand to help him get back up. Arthur glared at him and stood up by himself, before pulling himself together and turn to Gwaine, who had just entered.

"Oh, princess, you should have told me you were _busy_ , I wouldn't have barged in!" He said with a wink, before laughing and adding "I'm going to have so much fun with that!". He then turned away and left the room, without even telling them why he had come, and Arthur glared harder at Merlin.

"What?" Merlin shrugged, smiled, grabbed what was left of the breakfast before kissing Arthur's cheek and leave, leaving Arthur dumbfounded in his room.

"What the hell just happened?" He groaned, before urging out of his room.

" _Merlin!"_


	13. Chapter 13

_WARNING: Spoilers for 5x13 and uh... kind of that ? (But really with a theme like treason/lies and 5x13 as a setting, I guess it's obvious it's not going to be all cheery happy XD)_

* * *

 **Treason/lies**

Arthur didn't have much time left, and he knew it. Merlin might not want to admit it, but it was pretty obvious to him. He had seen enough mortal blows to know when he had been hit by one. He was dying, but he wasn't feeling particularly bad, apart from the hurt. Morgana had just died, and he knew peace would be coming back in Camelot, and in the entire country. He didn't mind leaving his kingdom to Guinevere, he could say himself that he had done his time, the kingdom didn't need him that much anymore.

But even as he knew all of this, his mind was filled with something else. Something that meant much more to him than anything else anymore.

Merlin. He would die in Merlin's arms, he was fully aware of it, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Still, there was one and only thing he was regretting. No matter how proud he was of his life and what he had achieved as a King, he would always regret that Merlin didn't tell him sooner that he had magic. It wasn't even really the years of lies that hurt him so much, not anymore. It had, at first, and it still did somehow. He had thought he knew Merlin as perfectly as Merlin knew him, and still he hadn't been able to see that Merlin was keeping such a thing from him. Of course he had been mad at Merlin, for never telling him, but he had realized there was no point in being mad. First, it wasn't like he could ever stay mad at his friend, no matter what he had done, and then, he didn't want to die being mad. He couldn't bear to die knowing Merlin thought he hated him, because he didn't.

What he was truly regretting was never managing to make Merlin feel like he could trust him enough with his secret. Sure, Arthur understood why he hadn't said anything even after he became King, he understood that Merlin was too afraid he'd be mad because of the lies, and Merlin hadn't been wrong, he had been mad. But he still wished he could have proven to Merlin that he would never have been mad enough to banish him, let alone hurt him in any way.

Yes, Arthur's greatest regret would be that he never managed to make Merlin understand that he loved him more than he could ever be mad at him. Because it was clear now. He had never truly realized it, mostly because he hadn't wanted to, but when Merlin had told him the truth, and when Arthur had realized everything his friend had done for him, it all became impossible to ignore.

He didn't care for Merlin as a friend, he cared for him as a lover, and maybe even more than that, and he had for a long time.

And Arthur wanted to reach out and tell Merlin that he didn't mind the lies, he didn't mind the treason, because he had himself somehow betrayed both of them, by refusing to acknowledge his feelings until it was too late, and by denying them both from that love. And now, as Arthur was dying in Merlin's arms, there was nothing he wanted more than to tell him, to leave with the knowledge that he had finally let the truth out.

But he wouldn't. He couldn't.

He could never do this to Merlin, let him live with the "what ifs". It was a way too cruel thing to do, and Merlin was bearing enough of a burden as it was. So Arthur kept his mouth shut, and let himself be held by the arms of the man who mattered the most to him, the man he truly loved.

But he couldn't just go like this either, so he forced his mouth open.

"Thank you." He muttered, and felt his eyes close. He would die letting Merlin know he forgave him for the lies, all of them, even if he wouldn't say what he craved to say.

And maybe, just maybe, they would meet again in the aftermath, or somewhere, and finally be happy, with no more lies and no more tears. Only them.


	14. Chapter 14

**Final/studies**

All Merlin wanted to do was studying. Really. His exams were in less than two days now, and he still didn't know a thing. He really should have started to learn earlier, but as usual, he had been procrastinating until he realized he had less than 48 hours to learn a whole semester. And of course, he couldn't afford to have bad grades, as he wasn't sure he would be able to do much better next semester.

So he had willed himself to grab his books and settled at a table in the library, hoping he would be less tempted to do something else if he wasn't surrounded by a computer or anything that would much more fun to do than learning. And it had worked, until then. Until Merlin had noticed the blond man sitting about a table away from his, and staring at him with no shame. He didn't even flinch when Merlin caught him staring, and it had startled Merlin. He had first thought that the guy was maybe staring into space and not at him, but it soon became obvious that that was not the case.

And from then, it had become hell for Merlin. He couldn't even concentrate long enough to memorize anything, his thoughts always coming back at the other man. Why was he looking at him like that? Had Merlin something on his face or what?

Shaking his head, Merlin tried to focus on his work again, now was definitely not the time to keep fussing around, he needed to learn, and quick. But when he didn't manage to focus long enough, he got bored and stood up. In a few step he was in front of the blond, who looked up at him, still not flinching.

"Alright, what is it?" Merlin asked, eager to get it out. "Do I have something funny? Look, just tell me why you keep staring at me so it won't bother me anyway and I can go back to studying because I really need to work and I won't be able to until I know what's going on. So please just say it."

"I just think you're hot." The guy simply said, smiling, and completely unabashed.

"Okay, great, thank… Wait what?"

The blond shrugged, and Merlin fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"I said I think you're hot. And now I think you're cute, too. Name's Arthur" He said, and held his hand out to Merlin, who didn't move, appalled. Arthur rolled his eyes and took his hand back.

"Well then, when do you want us to go out?"

"Why do you assume I'd want to go out with you?"

"Well, I've seen myself in a mirror" Arthur said, grinning proudly and pointing out to his body, and Merlin was now completely appalled. That guy was a prat.

"Well, someone obviously has a very high opinion of themselves" he mumbled.

"Oh come on, don't tell me I'm not the most handsome man you've ever seen. I wouldn't believe you if said it anyway."

"You know, I'm not going to say no because of your look, I'm going to say no because you're an utter prat!" Merlin snapped, and Arthur chuckled. Merlin glared at him and walked away, back to his seat.

He was finally starting to learn something when he felt someone breathing near his ear. Frowning, he lifted his head and nearly jumped when he saw Arthur's face, mere inches from his own.

"What the hell do you want?"

"We obviously didn't started the right way" Arthur stated, playing with one of Merlin's pen and sitting next to him. "So I think we should start over."

"I don't want to start over, for God's sake, I just want to study" Merlin groaned.

"'Kay, so what about I help you studying?"

"Ah, Very funny" Merlin snorted but Arthur didn't seem to mind. Actually, he grabbed Merlin's book and skimmed through it.

"English literature, uh? So what do you think of Shakespeare's habit to set plays with unusual characters such as a black man in a different country, away from England?" Arthur asked, and Merlin's eyes widened comically.

"You know about English literature?" He croaked, dumbfounded.

"Yeah. My father liked to make sure I had more culture than the other students. So I know quite a lot about literature, and I'm still offering to help, if you'll take a coffee with me. After your exams, of course."

Merlin's mouth opened and closed, before he held his hand out.

"Deal. Name's Merlin, by the way."

Arthur smiled, and got up. "Well then, Merlin, let's go."

Merlin frowned. "Where? I thought you were supposed to help me."

"I am. But not here, we'll be more comfortable at home. Not to mention that all of my literature books are there. So move it, Merlin, we don't have all day!"

Merlin scowled at him but ultimately got up and followed Arthur out of the library. After all, he could do with a little help on literature, and all he had promised was a coffee. If he didn't like Arthur, he would be rid of him in about a week at most.

And if he ended up liking him, well, he wouldn't exactly mind either. Maybe coming to the library had been a good idea, after all.


	15. Chapter 15

_Okay, this is VERY short, and probably also kind of shitty, and I'm so sorry for it, but I actually wondered whether I would even write anything today, because the theme really, really, didn't inspire me, but I just couldn't not write anything so... I suck with these things, so uh... The others will be longer and better and once again I'm sorry for this one._

* * *

 **Anxiety/Depression**

Arthur walked out of the bedroom, utterly worried, and feeling more than a bit guilty. He should have seen it coming, he should have prevented it. He should have been able to do something. He has known Merlin was really hurt after both Hunith and Gaius died in the car accident. He had seen how broken he had been, and still he hadn't managed to get just how broken he truly was. Arthur was supposed to be Merlin's best friend, his lover, the man who would take care of him, and he had failed.

Sure, he knew deep down that it wasn't really his fault, that Merlin had managed to somehow hide his feelings from him, everyone –especially Gwen –had told him so, but it didn't make him feel better at all. Not when the man he loved was currently sleeping in their bed after spending three weeks in the hospital.

Arthur sat on the couch and tugged at his tie absent-mindedly, unable to focus on anything, until someone knocked on his door. He opened it to let Gwaine enter.

"How is he?"

"Good. Bad. I don't fucking know." Arthur said, frustrated, running a hand through his hair.

"Arthur" Gwaine said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault. None of us had seen it coming either."

"Yeah but none of you live with him!" Arthur snapped. "He… Fuck! I didn't see he was feeling that bad, Gwaine, I thought he was mourning but not… It didn't even cross my mind that it could be that bad! What does it say about how bad a boyfriend I am?"

Gwaine bit his lip and breathed deeply. He didn't know how to make Arthur understand that he couldn't have done anything. He was absolute bullshit with these things, and really, if Gwen couldn't put it in Arthur's head, no one could. No one but Merlin, and if Gwaine had no doubt that his best friend would never let Arthur think any of it was his fault, he also knew that it would take a while before Merlin was well again, and a lot more time before things would go back the way they used to be, if they ever managed to get it that way again.

So Gwaine only patted Arthur's shoulder and told him there was nothing he could have done, knowing it wouldn't help his friend at all.

He managed to force Arthur to get some sleep, telling him he would stay over until he would wake, so that if Merlin woke up or needed anything, he wouldn't be alone. Arthur obviously didn't want to go, but he was in fact exhausted and ended up falling asleep in the spare bedroom, not wanting to wake or disturb Merlin by getting in the bed with him.

He was more than aware that things weren't going to be easy, but now that he knew of Merlin's real problems, he would help him. No matter what or how long it would take, he would get him out of this. But since Gwaine had offered to stay and his boyfriend was sleeping, he really could do with some sleep for himself.


	16. Chapter 16

**Memories**

Arthur was thrilled, even though he would rather die than admit it. After a bit more than a year and a half of being together, he and Merlin were finally going to live together. If Arthur could have done things his way, they would be living together for while already, but he knew Merlin would think it was too soon, so he hadn't dared to ask.

Truth be told, Arthur himself was a bit scared of his own feelings. He had always been the one to stop and slow down the relationships, and had never, in his entire life, felt like he would be the kind of man to fall in love really deeply. But then he had met Merlin, and it had been as if he was drawn to him. Still now, he felt like Merlin had always been a part of his life, something he had been missing without even knowing it, the reason why he had never been in love before him. And it was sometimes a bit scary to him, when he thought too much about it.

So he stopped thinking about it, and simply enjoyed spending time with the man he loved.

When Merlin finally arrived with all of his things, they put it in the bedroom for now, as they didn't have the strength to begin to really install him just now. Instead, Arthur grabbed his face and kissed him fiercely. Merlin immediately kissed back, wrapping his arms around his neck.

Arthur tried to lead him to the bedroom without having to part, and obviously ended up colliding in about every wall in the living room. But Merlin only chuckled and kissed him more, so Arthur didn't really mind hitting himself on walls.

That was, until they managed to tumble on the glass table besides the sofa and fell onto the floor. Merlin laughed until he realized Arthur had actually hurt his head on the side of the table. Now worried, he moved quickly towards him.

"Arthur! Are you alright?"

Merlin brought his hand to Arthur's head, but he grabbed it before he could. Arthur stared into Merlin's eyes like he had been struck by realization, and Merlin frowned.

"Arthur? You okay?"

Arthur didn't answer. Instead, he jumped forward and straight into Merlin's arms, who frowned even further and awkwardly wrapped his arms around Arthur's back.

"Merlin" Arthur whispered, and Merlin stepped down just enough to look into his lover's eyes again, putting both hands at the sides of his head.

"Arthur? You're… acting weird. You're sure you're okay?"

"Never been better" Arthur beamed, and leaned in to kiss him with as much passion as he could.

"Right" Merlin gasped when they parted. "Maybe we should go to the hospital, who knows if you don't have a concussion or something?"

"Merlin, I'm fine. Really." Arthur insisted, rolling his eyes. "I just… Everything's clear for the first time in… I can't even remember."

"Clear? What is clear? Arthur, love, what the hell are you talking about?"

Merlin was frowning, obviously worried for him, and Arthur bit his lip. He wasn't sure to know how to proceed from now on.

"Well I… Merlin, did you… have you never…" Arthur sighed, and Merlin grabbed his hand, squeezing it slightly.

"What? Tell me."

"Have you ever felt like there was something off? Something missing ? Like you were forgetting something, something important? Like you were…. Like you were drawn to me ?"

Merlin's eyes widened almost comically and Arthur felt his hand slipping out of his own.

"How do you know?"

Arthur swallowed and reached out for his hand again.

"I… I felt the same. All my life. I don't know what happened but when I hit my head on the table I… It became clear, I… Look, I can't tell you without you thinking I'm completely insane, but I don't know how to make you remember. It's not… It's not fucking logical! You should be the one remembering, not me! I just… Damn, I'm almost tempted to throw you on the table just to see if it would work for you too!"

"Um… Okay, well please don't throw the table at me and just… explain, okay? I swear I'm not going to run away."

Arthur snorted, pretty certain that Merlin would actually run away if he was to tell him the truth.

"Merlin… There's no way you won't think I'm crazy."

"Try me. Arthur, I've been dreaming about dragons, knights and golden Kings for as far as I can remember, and I'm almost certain the King looked like you even though I had never met you, so I'm pretty sure that I'm at least as crazy as you are."

"You dreamed of me?" Arthur asked, his eyes widening slightly. "You dreamed of Camelot?"

"I… Yeah. I mean I never heard the kingdom's name in my dreams, but…"

"Merlin", Arthur said, grasping his hands and leaning closer. "Merlin, love, these weren't dreams."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… It's us. You and me, in Camelot, long ago. It's not a dream, it happened. I don't… I can't explain many things, but I remember living in Camelot, being that King you've dreamed of, and loving you. And then I died, and next thing I remember is being a child in this life, with no memories of the past, until now, until I hit my head, and it must have freed the memories or something."

"You're telling me you're King Arthur of Camelot? And I… what was your sorcerer or something?" Merlin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No." Arthur grinned. "You were my servant."

Merlin huffed. "Please, I know I told you I would believe you, but there's no way I was your servant in a previous life!"

"I know, you were terrible at it. The worst servant I've ever had, really." Arthur laughed, before biting his lip. "You really don't remember, do you?"

"No. I mean, apart from those dreams, I..."

Arthur nodded, and sighed. "Are you sure you don't want me to…"

"Arthur, I swear to God if you hit my head I kill you."Merlin warned, pointing his finger at him.

"Well, it worked for me! I don't want to be the only one who remembers, and I don't want you to eventually leave because you'll think I have mental troubles."

Merlin scowled at him, and Arthur raised his hand as proof he won't try to hit him.

They stayed silent for a while, both taking everything that just happened in, before Merlin declared he was tired and they went to bed, Merlin's things still in their boxes as they didn't take time to move them.

In the middle of the night, Arthur woke up when Merlin started to move urgently in the bed. Arthur shook him slightly to wake him up.

"Merlin, hey, wake up!"

Merlin finally woke and sat up, panting.

"Merlin, hey, are you alright?"

"I… Camlann… Kilgharrah… I… I think I remember" Merlin said and Arthur's eyes widened, as a smile made his way on his face.

"You do?"

"And I was not an awful servant!" Merlin exclaimed, hitting Arthur's arm. Arthur laughed and grabbed his hand before pinning his down and straddling him.

"Oh you were." He kissed his chin. "The worse". He kissed his neck. "Really", he added, kissing his lips.

"You really do remember?"

Merlin threw his arms at Arthur's neck, and they almost tumbled out of the bed. "I do. I'm sorry it took me so long."

Arthur shook his head, and hugged him tightly, relieving in the fact that he was felling completely and utterly happy for the first time.


	17. Chapter 17

**Job(s) for money**

Merlin skimmed through the classifieds, looking for any job proposal that he could do. He had lost his job recently, and even though his uncle Gaius had told him he could come to work with him at the bookshop, Merlin wanted to find something by himself. He didn't want to owe his uncle everything he would have. Still, he wasn't stupid, and would gladly say yes if he couldn't come up with anything else soon, since he was staring to lack money. Having an art degree didn't exactly open as many doors as other degrees, and Merlin still hadn't found any interesting jobs.

So he skimmed through the pages, until he saw an ad from a rich businessman who wanted to have someone draw his portrait. The price the man was ready to pay for it made Merlin's eyes widen, and he found himself calling the man, even though he doubted he would be chosen to draw him. There were probably hundreds of people who would want to do it too, and some of them would be better than Merlin.

Still, the phone was ringing.

"Hello?" A man's voice answered.

"Uh hi, my name's Merlin, I call for the uh… the ad"

"You know how to draw?"

"Yeah, I have an art degree" Merlin said, and he heard the man humming.

"Fine, come tomorrow at nine. Don't be late, don't be early, and bring some of your drawings with you, I'm not going to let just anyone do my portrait" The man snorted and Merlin had to roll his eyes. Of course he had found an absolute prat. But he still needed money, so he agreed and the man gave him his address. He hung up and Merlin realized he still had no idea of the man's name, as the ad didn't precise it.

* * *

The next morning, he went to the address, and a red-haired man opened the gates to a mansion so big Merlin almost wondered if he was in Buckingham. The red-haired man led him inside, and to one of the rooms. He knocked, and left Merlin on his own when someone –the man he had had on the phone if Merlin recognized it properly –told him to enter.

Merlin slowly pushed the door, to see a handsome blond-haired and very naked man. Eyes widening, he quickly turned around.

"Uh sorry, but you said I could enter so…"

"You know, if you can't even look, it's going to be hard to draw me" The man chuckled, and Merlin could sense him grin smugly.

"Wait…" He said, facing him again. "I'm supposed to draw you naked?"

"Well, yes, Merlin, that's exactly what you're supposed to do. If you feel like you can do it without having a complex, of course."

"Wow, you really are a prat." Merlin snorted, and then added "I don't see anything to have complex about, to be honest".

He was lying, as the man was literally sculpted like a Greek God, but the face he made was totally worth a tiny lie.

"Well then, show me one of your drawings. I can't have a complete idiot do the job, can I?"

"Why not? You would make a pair, wouldn't you?" Merlin said cheekily, and Arthur grabbed one of his drawings.

He looked at him for a while, before snorting. "Well, that's not the best I've seen, but it'll have to do. It's not like anyone else called for the job, anyway."

Merlin frowned slightly. He was the only one who had called? With the price that was offered for it? He couldn't believe it, it didn't seem possible.

"Merlin" The prat said, looking annoyed. "You'll have to move if you want to draw, and I don't have all day"

Merlin rolled his eyes but complied. He let the prat tell him where to stand and what he wanted, and then started to draw.

"I don't even know your name" He said, still drawing.

"You don't need to know my name to draw me." The prat snorted.

Three hours and a whole bunch of insults later, the prat decided he was done for the day.

"But I'm almost done!" Merlin objected, and the man shrugged.

"I don't care, you'll finish tomorrow. Same time, same place."

Merlin rolled his eyes, sighed, and grabbed his things. As he was heading for the door, he heard the prat say "Name's Arthur, by the way" and he couldn't help but smile as he left.

* * *

"You're sure Merlin didn't see you?"

"No, Morgana, I told you already, Merlin has no idea I even know Arthur. And neither of them could ever guess that I told the printer not to put Arthur's ad in any newspaper but one."

"You are evil, Gwaine." Morgana grinned.

"I know. Now, I bet on two days for them to shag, and two weeks for Arthur to admit he likes him"

"You're a fool" Morgana shook her head. "They'll shag tomorrow, but my brother dear will need at least a month to admit he likes Merlin. And then I bet they'll be all disgustingly sweet. But I have to admit you were right, your friend really seems to be good for Arthur."

"Not to mention that Arthur already seems to like him" Gwaine added, grinning. "But don't forget, you witch, that if Arthur ever officially dates Merlin, you'll owe me…"

"A lifelong round at the pub for giving me reasons to annoy Arthur, I know, I know" Morgana said, raising her hand in disdain.

"We have a bet and a deal, then, don't we?" Gwaine asked, holding his hand out.

"Hell yes we do, and I'm gonna win" She answered, shaking his hand.


	18. Chapter 18

_Hi ! I'm so sorry for not posting yesterday, I got completely overwhelmed. So here's day 18, and I'll try to write and post day 19 tonight. If I don't have time, I'll post it along with day 20 tomorrow._

 _I'm sorry once again, and hope you'll enjoy this one !_

* * *

 **College/University Party**

Merlin was sitting on the stairs when Gwaine came to him. He smiled at his friend, who sat next to him.

"So, Merlin, who are you going to prom with?" Gwaine grinned, and Merlin shrugged.

"I don't know yet. I'm not sure I'm even gonna go."

"Oh come on, it won't be fun if you're not there, who's gonna stop me from making a fool of myself, uh?" Gwaine chuckled. "Why don't you ask Arthur?" He then asked seriously, and Merlin rolled his eyes.

"You're not supposed to go with your best friend" Merlin snorted. "Besides, he's probably going to ask Gwen to come with him."

Gwaine bit his lip not to say what he really thought about Merlin and Arthur's relationship, knowing it would do nothing but upset Merlin. Still, there was no way he was going to let his friend sulk.

"Right, then you know what? Come with me."

"What?" Merlin's eyes widened before he burst in laughter. "Yeah, sure."

"No, but seriously, mate. We'll spend the night drinking together anyway, so instead of going alone, we should go together. As friends. There's no rule saying you can't go with a friend. It'll be funnier than to go with some stupid bloke like Mordred or Cenred, right?"

Merlin looked appalled for a second, before he nodded. "Alright, I guess we can have some fun."

Merlin grinned and Gwaine smiled back. Everything was going according to plan.

"Great, see you soon, then!"

A few hours later, after their classes had ended, Gwaine, Merlin, Arthur, Percival, Morgana, Leon and Gwen were sitting at the pub, when Gwen told everyone that Arthur had asked her to come with him to prom.

"Oh really?" Gwaine smiled. "That's great! Merlin and I are going together too" He said, still grinning, and then smirking when he saw Arthur choking on his drink.

"What?" The blonde croaked, looking at Gwaine and then at Merlin.

"Gwaine asked me, so I said yes. We were going to spend the night together anyway" Merlin shrugged, and Gwaine bit his lip not to roll on the floor in laughter at Arthur's face. Merlin probably didn't even notice the innuendo in what he had said, but it was certain that Arthur had, and Gwaine found the entire situation divine. He offered Arthur his brightest smile, and moved his chair a bit closer to Merlin's, and Arthur glared at him harder than Gwaine had ever seen him glare.

After a while, Arthur got up to go to the bathroom, and discreetly told Gwaine to come with him. The long-haired man smiled and excused himself, following Arthur happily.

"Hey, princess, what's up?"

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Arthur asked threateningly, glaring at Gwaine with his arms crossed on his chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Gwaine shrugged.

"Why did you ask Merlin to go to prom with you?"

"Well, he said he was alone, and that he wasn't even sure to go, so I told him I'd be happy to go with him. And honestly Arthur, I don't see how any of this is your business, you're going with Gwen, aren't you?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes and pointed his finger in Gwaine's face. "You know perfectly well why I'm going with her. I can't believe you're doing this to me!"

"Look, mate, I'm not doing anything to you, I did it for Merlin. I don't exactly like seeing him alone and a bit depressed, so I did what I could to cheer him up. I did what you would have done years ago if you just had the balls to do it. So don't you dare being mad at me, because it's your own fault if Merlin's not going to prom with you. And really, you should be glad I'm the one who asked him and not Daegal, because he had the hots for Merlin too, and if you don't move your ass, he's going to tell him before you do, and poof, there will be no Merlin left for you !"

"You think Merlin likes Daegal?" Arthur asked, dumbfounded.

"No, I think Merlin likes you. But he's not going to wait forever, and someday he's gonna get bored, and someone else will show him interest, and it will be too late for you. I don't even know why you never tried anything, but if you really want something more with Merlin, you'd better act, and soon!"Gwaine snapped before turning around and leaving the bathroom, not letting Arthur any time to answer.

When both of them came back at the table, they pretended nothing had happened, and Gwaine fought the urge to roll his eyes.

* * *

The next day, they were leaving their history class when Arthur spotted Merlin laughing with Daegal. As he remembered what Gwaine had said the previous night, he clenched his fists and tightened his jaw before walking furiously towards his friend.

"Oh, I'm sorry Daegal, I'm going with Gwaine…"He heard Merlin say, and he hurried just a little more.

When he got closer to them, Merlin turned his head to face him and smiled briefly. Arthur placed himself as close to Merlin as he could, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"What's going on?" He asked, smiling.

"Nothing" Daegal answered. "I guess we'll see each other another time then, Merlin"

Merlin smiled and nodded, and then turned to Arthur once Daegal was away.

"What did he want?" Arthur asked again.

"He only wanted to ask if I'd come with him to prom, but you know, I'm going with Gwaine."

"Yeah" Arthur mumbled, before making up his mind. "Actually no, you're not."

Merlin frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean", Arthur said softly, "that you're not going with Gwaine. You're coming with me."

"Yeah sure" Merlin chuckled, before frowning again when he realized Arthur was serious. "Wait, are you serious? I thought you were going with Gwen".

"I was, but only because Lance asked me to. Since he can't go himself, he asked me to go with her so she wouldn't be picked by some useless guy. She knows it, and she agreed, but she won't mind going with Gwaine."

"Right. So she asked to go with Gwaine, and you're going to force me to go with you just so you won't be alone? You really are a prat, you know that?"

This time, it was Arthur who frowned. "What? Wait no, Merlin, Gwen didn't ask for anything, I… I'm the one who wanted to change partners."

"Why?"

"Why?" Arthur repeated, rolling his eyes. "Because I want to go with you, you idiot."

Merlin's eyes widened slightly at Arthur's words, and before the blonde could add anything else, Merlin had thrown himself at his neck and captured his lips in a kiss. Arthur kissed back enthusiastically and wrapped his arms around his waist.

He would now owe Gwaine a round at the pub, but he couldn't care less.


	19. Chapter 19

_Alright, I did it! So we're good, I'm on time again XD_

 _Enjoy! Oh and this one is angst, just so you know._

* * *

 **Dream/Nightmare**

Arthur pulled his sword out of the man abruptly, and let it fall on the floor, looking all around him. Men were everywhere, wounded or dead. There were almost no men still standing, and the few of them were all from Camelot. They had won the battle. Sighing, Arthur rubbed a hand on his face and looked around once more, looking for his men. Many of them would be dead or at least badly injured, and he knew it.

The entire battle against the Saxons had been a nightmare. They were much more than Arthur and his knights had thought they would be, and Camelot's army had soon been outnumbered. If Arthur didn't have the best knights of the five kingdoms, he would never have won, and he knew it. It was a miracle that some of them were still alive. Picking his sword up, he carefully wandered in the area, trying not to walk on the bodies, enemies or not. His heart raced when he spotted Leon in a corner. He approached carefully, knelt down to check on the man, and held down a sob when he realized one of his finest knights and best friends had been killed. He took off his cloak and covered Leon's body softly.

Then, he got up again, and kept trying to find his men. He easily found Gwaine, who was trying to get up. He hurried to help his friend, and wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him.

"Gwaine! Are you alright?"

"Will be" Gwaine forced out. "How on earth could they be that many?"

"I don't know." Arthur sighed. "It's a wonder we won, but at what price? So many of my men are dead, and Leon… Leon too."

Gwaine looked up at that, and Arthur could see his features straighten as he took in the information.

"Have you seen Merlin?" Arthur suddenly asked, realizing he had no idea where his lover was. Merlin was usually near him at all time, but he had lost him in the noise and crowd of the battle, and he hadn't been able to find him again since.

Gwaine shook his head, and Arthur nodded, swallowing. He could take it if he found out Gwaine was the only one who had made it out, as long as Merlin was fine too. If anything had happened to him, however, Arthur knew he would never be able to get over it. It would kill him to be without Merlin. He needed to find him, to be sure he was alright.

Still carrying Gwaine, he kept wandering around, now looking for his former manservant, when he suddenly saw a familiar mop of black hair lying on a stone. He put Gwaine down quickly, and rushed at Merlin's side.

"Merlin?" He called out, begging the man to answer. He slowly reached out to touch his face, and gasped when he saw just how wounded he was. Gulping, he gathered Merlin in his arms and tried to wake him up.

"Merlin? Merlin, come on. Open your eyes. Please". When Merlin didn't move, he started to shake him in earnest, until he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he started to sob, burying his face in Merlin's neck. He could feel Gwaine kneeling painfully next to him, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

He had lost the only person who meant more to him than his own life, than his entire kingdom. He couldn't be a good King without Merlin, he couldn't even live without him. He would never be Arthur again, only a shell, a dead King ruling over a dead kingdom. If he had been a more selfish man, if Merlin hadn't taught him that his kingdom had to come first, no matter what, he would have run himself through with his own sword, but he wouldn't. Merlin would be upset if he did, and he didn't want to do anything that could upset his lover. He wanted to make Merlin proud, but he knew he couldn't. He would never be able to keep living, to keep ruling and be a good King, no matter how hard he wanted to try for him. He just knew he couldn't do it without Merlin at his side.

He knew that deep inside, Arthur Pendragon had died the second he had realized he had lost Merlin.

* * *

Arthur woke up suddenly, sitting up and panting.

"Arthur?"

Turning his head, Arthur felt his heart race when he saw Merlin, sitting next to him, frowning. Unable to help himself, he jumped forward to hold him tightly.

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked, and Arthur nodded slowly.

"What if the Saxons outnumber us tomorrow?" He asked, worrying his lip.

"They won't." Merlin shook his head. "Our informers have been clear, don't worry."

"Yeah, but what if they were wrong? What if… No, I want you to stay here tomorrow. You can't come to the battlefield."

"Excuse me? You're a fool if you think I'm going to stay behind, Arthur, and I'm telling you you have nothing to worry about. Come on, get some sleep." Merlin kissed the corner of his mouth and pulled Arthur down with him. The King wrapped an arm around his consort and closed his eyes trying to trust him.

Still, he couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this battle. He fell asleep hoping his nightmare was nothing more than a dream.


	20. Chapter 20

_Hey! So, a few people asked me if I would write a part 2 to day 17's "Job for money", the one where Merlin was drawing Arthur and Gwaine and Morgana were plotting and betting on them, so here it is. There will also be a part three, on day 23, so on friday, and maybe a part four, I'm not sure yet._

 _Anyway, I hope you'll like it!_

* * *

 **Food/Chocolate eating**

The next morning, Merlin was back at the mansion, and the same red-haired man led him to Arthur's room.

The blond prat was already there, as naked as he had been the day before, and Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Do you even know what clothes are?"

"Of course I do, Merlin, but if was wearing clothes, you wouldn't be blushing, and I wouldn't miss that for the world." Arthur smirked and Merlin narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not blushing, you prat!"

"Yes you are." Arthur said casually, organizing his desk absent-mindedly.

"I'm not!"

"Are too!"

Merlin sighed and gave up, knowing there was no way he would win this battle. Still, he wouldn't lose the war, and if Arthur wanted to play, he could play too.

"Right", he said, taking his scarf off, along with his jacket and shoes.

"What are you doing?" Arthur asked, eyes widening slightly.

"It's too hot in here, and," Merlin paused, taking off his shirt and trousers. "If you get the right to be naked, then so do I".

He had taken his pants off before Arthur could order him not to, and he smirked when the prat cleared his throat and looked away quickly.

"Oh, sorry, maybe you can't look without having complex?" Merlin smirked, sending Arthur's words back to his face.

"Don't be smug, Merlin, I can't see anything that could give me a complex."

Merlin shrugged, grabbed his drawing things, and stood behind the easel, waiting for Arthur to get in place. When Arthur didn't move, he rolled his eyes.

"You know, if you don't want to do this, I can come back tomorrow!"

He was about to add something when a hand full of chocolate pieces was thrown in front of him. "Chocolate?" Arthur asked, and Merlin raised a brow.

"No, I've eaten already, thanks. Could we please start?"

"Of course" Arthur nodded, "when I'll have eaten this. See, I'm hungry. You're sure you don't want some?"

"Yes, I'm sure, thank you very much" Merlin rolled his eyes. He suddenly felt Arthur in his back, pressing his chest against his back and leaning in to watch above Merlin's shoulder.

"So, that's supposed to be me, right?"

"Yeah, you should be able to recognize yourself, with the amount of time you spend in front of your mirror" Merlin snorted, and Arthur pinched his shoulder.

"That's not very nice, Merlin"

"Oh sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" He all but laughed, turning his head to face Arthur. When he chuckled again, Arthur looked at him, annoyed.

"You've got uh…"Merlin raised his hand to wipe some chocolate away from Arthur's mouth, and stopped moving when Arthur's hand came to rest on his wrist, slightly stroking the inside of it.

They stared in each other's eyes for a while, until Arthur slowly leaned in, his hand leaving Merlin's wrist to rest on his naked waist. As he was getting closer to Merlin's lips, they heard a loud crash and jumped away from each other in surprise, heads turning to where the noise had come from.

"Gwaine?!" They both exclaimed, before turning to each other again, frowning.

"How do you know Gwaine?" Arthur asked, narrowing his eyes.

"He's my best friend. How do _you_ know him?"

"He's my friend too."

"Actually" Gwaine cut in, "I'm more Percy's friend, and Percy's Lance's friend, who is your friend. So, I wouldn't exactly say we're friends, but… Why are you both naked, am I interrupting something?" He smirked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"Of course not" Arthur rolled his eyes. "I'm naked because that's how I'm supposed to be drawn, and Merlin is… Just weird."

Merlin snorted but didn't answer, and pointed the couch out.

"Well then, your prattish Highness, how about getting this drawing done so I can leave and never come back? If you don't mind, Gwaine."

Gwaine smiled and left the room quickly, only to be grabbed firmly by Morgana.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I fell" Gwaine answered, shrugging.

"Stop lying to me, Gwaine" Morgana hissed. "You saw they were about to shag and you purposely walked in so they wouldn't, because you can't bear the thought of losing this bet!"

"Oh, Morgana dear, you really don't know me at all, do you? I'm a player, I would never cheat."

Morgana narrowed his eyes, pinched his arm and leaned against the wooden door to hear Merlin and Arthur. She sighed when she heard nothing but Arthur groaning about how uncomfortable the couch was, and ordering Merlin to hurry. There was no doubt possible, Merlin had started to draw.

Frustrated, Morgana threw a threatening finger in Gwaine's face, and left. She would need a plan, and soon. It was not even midday, so she could still win her bet, but she would have to make Merlin stay in the mansion first.

Cursing Gwaine as her chocolate plan had been working until he stepped in, she wandered through the house, looking for a new idea. Arthur's mood had been broken, and she knew he wouldn't try anything with Merlin once the drawing would be over. Which meant she had about less than an hour to find the perfect plan, the one that would force Merlin to stay and put her brother back in the mood, as Arthur had told her the drawing was almost done the day before.

She suddenly stopped pacing, having found the perfect plan. She now only needed to make sure Gwaine wouldn't ruin it, because if he didn't, she was sure to win the first part of the bet.


	21. Chapter 21

**Christmas town**

Merlin was ecstatic, he loved Christmas, and the way the small town of Ealdor was always decorated at that time of the year. He was used to going back there every year to spend Christmas with his mother, but this year he had brought Arthur along with him, as his friend had nothing else to do since his father had disowned him, and Merlin hadn't wanted to leave him alone.

Arthur seemed moody though, and even if Merlin couldn't exactly blame him, he hoped he would come to get happier by the end of the week.

As soon as they had arrived, Hunith had insisted to take care of their things so that they could take a walk in the city, as she knew her son loved to watch Ealdor's decorations.

Arthur had only nodded and followed Merlin outside, not uttering more words than strictly necessary.

"Are you alright?" Merlin asked after a while, getting worried for his friend.

"Yeah, I'm good" Arthur answered with not much conviction.

Sighing, Merlin stopped and put a hand on Arthur's arm.

"Look, I know it's hard for you, with your father and all, but I… I thought it would help not to be alone. But it obviously doesn't so… We can go back home if you want."

"Your mother insisted for us to take a walk" Arthur shrugged, and Merlin rolled his eyes.

"She said so because she knows I love it when the town is decorated, but it doesn't mean we have to spend hours walking outside if you don't want to. I don't mind, I just… I'm just trying to help you feel better."

"Are you now?" Arthur mumbled, and Merlin frowned.

"What ? What do you mean?"

"Nothing, forget it" Arthur said firmly, and started walking again, until Merlin stopped him.

"No, wait. Look, if you have something to blame me for, just do it, alright? Maybe that will actually help, so go on, what wrong did I ever do you?" Merlin dared him, arms crossed on his chest.

"You know Merlin, I don't exactly fancy being your charity case!" Arthur snapped, and Merlin's eyes widened slightly.

"Excuse me? You're not my fucking charity case, Arthur, I was only trying to help because I thought we were friends! But then maybe I was wrong." He snapped back, and turned around, bypassing Arthur to go back home, not caring if the blond was following him or not.

Arthur was always a bit of a prat when he was in a bad mood, but that was just too much. Merlin was doing everything he could and putting up with every single one of his tantrums, and all he got was being accused of using Arthur as a charity case. Well then, he wouldn't put any efforts in this friendship anymore, not until the prat came back to his senses. He was done with it.

He only noticed that Arthur hadn't followed when he arrived back home and saw no one around. He shrugged and got in, not really answering when his mother asked where Arthur was. Tired, he fell into bed and slept almost instantly.

* * *

When he woke up in the middle of the night, he was thirsty. He went downstairs to grab a drink, and realized that Arthur's shoes were not with the others. Frowning, he went back up and slowly pushed the door to the room where Arthur was supposed to sleep open, only to find an empty bed, that had obviously had no one in. Cursing, Merlin grabbed his coat and left the house.

He wandered in the streets for a while, wondering where Arthur could have gone. Ealdor was a tiny town, and he had thought it would be easy to find him, but had obviously been wrong. When he still had nothing after more than two hours, he gave up and went back home. He would look again in the morning, when the streets wouldn't be so dark.

In the morning, there was still no track of him, so Merlin went outside once more, starting to get really worried. What if something had happened to Arthur? He knew he would never forgive himself.

After about an hour, Merlin was about to call the police when he spotted a familiar blond head on a doorstep. He all but ran to the house, until he was fairly certain it was Arthur.

"Arthur!"

Arthur turned his head when he heard his voice, and walked to Merlin.

"Hello Merlin" he greeted him, and Merlin narrowed his eyes.

"Hello? Hello?! You fucking prat, I've spent half of the night looking for you, sick with worry! What the fuck is wrong with you, you stupid fuckin…" Merlin stopped yelling when Arthur grabbed his arms and shouted "Stop!"

"Merlin, I'm sorry alright. I didn't think you'd look for me."

"You didn't th… Oh my God, why am I even putting up with you, you're the worst friend I've ever had, you prat! And what the fuck are you doing here?"

"I found a pub and got drunk" Arthur shrugged, "I think I didn't remember how to go to your house, so I stopped by the first illuminated house I saw, because it was nice or whatever, and some guy offered me to stay for the night so I wouldn't sleep outside. I would eventually have called you this morning. See, nothing to worry about."

Merlin stared at him like he had just admitted to have killed an entire family, fists clenched and jaw tightening.

"Nothing to worry about? Do you have any idea of what I thought had happened to you? You didn't even answer when I called you! I… Gods I hate you so much right now, you and this fucking idea you have that you can do whatever you like because no one cares about you anyway! Well guess what, I care about you, alright! Not as some kind of charity case, but as… As in I fucking love you and you only think I'm being nice to you to feel good! Well you know what? Here's some money, take it, get a train and leave, alright! It's not lie, you wanted to be here anyway, and you showed it enough, so thank you and goodbye!"

Merlin shoved a note in his hand and turned his back, raging. He heard Arthur call after him but pushed it away, and didn't stop until someone grabbed him by the waist and forced him to turn around.

"Merlin, fuck, wait!" Arthur tightened his hold around Merlin's waist, biting his lip.

"What?" Merlin snapped.

"I… Do you really mean it? Do you… Love me?"

"Yeah, though I have no idea why" Merlin said coldly.

"Then why did you say you didn't?"

"When did I ever say that?" Merlin frowned.

"When I told you I quit my job at my father's company." Arthur was now frowning too. "I said I did it partly for the person I love, and you said that whether I was right to leave, I shouldn't get my hopes high for that person because they probably didn't love me back."

"You were talking about me?" Merlin asked, appalled

"Of course I was! Who did you think I was talking about?"

"I… I thought you meant Gwen! And I know she loves Lance, that's why I said.. I didn't…"

"God, we really are stupid, aren't we?" Arthur asked, now almost chuckling.

"Yeah" Merlin nodded, and leaned forward to kiss Arthur passionately.

"I'm sorry for all this" Arthur whispered once they parted. "Forgive me?"

Merlin rolled his eyes and kissed him again, before they started to walk back to the house together.

"You know what?" Arthur asked after a while. "You were right, Ealdor really is a lovely town when it's Christmas time."


	22. Chapter 22

**Bag snatching**

Merlin was bringing Arthur's now clean clothes back to the King's chambers, and so had put them in some bag he had found at Gaius, since he didn't exactly fancy having to make several rows between the room where the clothes were and Arthur's room. He usually used a two-handled basket, and it was much handier, but the prattish King had simply decided to throw it away, and hadn't bothered asking if Merlin was using it or not.

As he was grumbling about the King being an arse, Merlin didn't notice the man following him, and was unable to prevent him from snatching the bag full of clothes and running. If he hadn't been so surprise, Merlin could have easily stopped him, but he had been so appalled that he barely registered what had happened until it was too late and the man was gone.

Merlin sighed and almost went back to bed, as this day was obviously an awful one. Instead, he went back to Arthur's chambers, preparing himself for the shouts and the whole bunch of insults he knew were coming.

When he passed the door, Arthur looked at him and raised a brow.

"Merlin. Where are my clothes?"

"That's a good question, tell me if you manage to answer it" Merlin said, trying a small smile.

"What on earth does that mean?" The King asked, narrowing his eyes and stepping closer to him threateningly.

"It means that you're obviously not the only arse in that castle. Someone stole your clothes."

"Someone stole…my clothes?" Arthur repeated, staring at Merlin as if he was completely stupid.

"Yeah. Don't ask me why, I don't know. They just passed me, grabbed your clothes and ran."

"Right. So tell me now, what am I supposed to wear?"

Merlin shrugged. "Don't you have other clothes?"

"No" Arthur answered slowly, as if talking to a dumb child. "I forgot to tell you to clean them, so you basically had all of my clothes, and you lost them. Really, Merlin, is there a servant in the five kingdoms that could be worse than you? Why am I even keeping you, you can't even do something as simple as bring me my clothes!"

Merlin raised an eyebrow before narrowing his eyes. "Excuse me? We wouldn't be in this situation if someone could do something as simple as remembering to tell me where their clothes that need to be cleaned are! Because if I had been able to find them, I wouldn't have had all of your clothes in one bag and you would have something to wear! So it's not exactly my fault, Sire!"

Merlin had managed to make the word "Sire" sound like an insult, which both amazed and annoyed Arthur.

"Well, you probably haven't been looking very well" Arthur snapped. "So tell me, what am I to wear?"

Merlin shrugged. "I don't know, I'm an awful servant, surely I can't come up with any good idea!"

Arthur's mouth hanged open in shock and outrage for a second, before he narrowed his eyes. Merlin only smiled, waved and left, and the King narrowed his eyes.

" _Merlin!"_

Merlin didn't come back, and Arthur stepped out of his room, furious. He quickly ran into Gwaine, who openly laughed at the sight of his King.

"What happened, Sire, you fell out of bed?"

That was when Arthur remembered that he wasn't wearing a shirt, since he had taken it off for Merlin to clean it.

"Where's my idiotic idiot of a servant?" He asked Gwaine through gritted teeth.

The knight shrugged. "I don't know. Why, he left before you could finally make out, uh?"

"What?"

"Oh, come on princess, don't pretend! You're half naked, obviously very frustrated, and asking for Merlin. I'm not that dumb" Gwaine said with a wink, and Arthur felt himself blush slightly, which made him even more furious.

Glaring at Gwaine harder than he had in his entire life, he yelled _"Merlin!"_

The knight smirked and bypassed his King, and Merlin still wouldn't come back, even though Arthur was certain he had heard him. He was certain the entire Kingdom had heard him, to be fair.

Raging, Arthur went back into his room, slamming the door, and sat on the bed, waiting furiously for Merlin to come back, making sure to know exactly how much time would pass before he was his servant, so that he would know how much time he would need to punish him.

Meanwhile, in the Council room, Leon, Percival, Elyan, Gwaine and Lancelot were smirking and laughing.

"So", Leon said "let's start the bets. How much time will they need to finally get together?"

"Since we won't bring Arthur's clothes back until they get on with it" Elyan thought "I don't think it will take much time. I bet on two days."

"Arthur's slow" Lancelot argued. "Three days and a half".

"I say a bit more than a day" Percival added.

"Gwaine?" Leon asked.

"You fools, I bet on tonight." He smirked.

Leon wrote the bets down, and reminded them of how much money was at stake. Being Arthur's second, he had always refused to bet on his King, but well, being the referee wasn't actually betting, was it?


	23. Chapter 23

**Electricity cut**

To make sure Gwaine wouldn't interfere with her plans, Morgana convinced him, after at least fifteen minutes and one or two "please", to go and fetch them a drink. As soon as he was on his way, she went back to Arthur's room and leaned closer to the door, and once she was certain Merlin was still drawing her brother, she took the key out of her pocket and locked the door, knowing that Arthur never locked it and so didn't have another key.

Then, she walked to the meter and cut off the power. When she went back inside the house and everything was dark, she grinned for herself. Then, remembering how many people were in the house, she thought better of it and locked the tiny room where the meter was as well. She put the key safely in her pocket. Now she was certain no one but her could turn the power back, or let Merlin and Arthur out of her brother's room. Not to mention that Arthur's room had no windows, and so it would be complete back in there, as well as in some other rooms of the castle, and in the corridors.

Happy with herself, she grabbed her phone, turn the lamp on, and walked back to Arthur's room, to try to hear what was happening. In less than three minutes, a furious Gwaine was at her side.

"I know you did this."

"Did what?" she asked innocently.

"You cut the power so that Merlin and Arthur would have all the time to shag! You are the cheater, you insufferable witch!" Gwaine hissed, pointing his finger in her face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I do admit that this electricity cut might be of much help for me" She smirked evilly, and Gwaine groaned.

"Open the door."

"What makes you think it's closed?"

"I tried to open it! You closed the door, so they wouldn't get out. Come on, admit it!"

"I did no such thing. I think Arthur is the one who has the key, maybe he locked himself in" she shrugged.

Gwaine glared at her, and leaned against the door next to her, to hear what was going on inside, both ignoring the people running and cursing because they couldn't open the door to the meter.

* * *

Merlin was almost done drawing when all went black. Sighing, he put his pencil down, and waited. The power would probably be turned back in a few minutes. Of course, Arthur wasn't nearly as patient.

"What the hell is happening?" He grumbled. "I'm gonna check."

"Hold on, it'll probably be back in a minute" Merlin said, rolling his eyes.

Arthur ignored him, got up and tried to find the door.

"You know you're still naked, right?" Merlin chuckled, and Arthur turned his head to where he thought the voice was coming from.

"Who cares, it's total black in here!"

"Yeah but it won't be if you turn the power back."

Arthur grumbled but had to admit that Merlin was right. He tried to find his clothes, or at least his pants, but sighed when he couldn't find anything.

"You know what, you're right. I can't go. You go." He said firmly, and he could almost see Merlin narrow his eyes.

"Excuse me? You're even more stupid than I thought if you think I'll ever go outside like this!"

"Why not? You're the one who got naked after being here for three seconds and for no reason!" Arthur snapped.

"I only did it so you would stop being so smug and annoying! Not that it worked, but it was worth trying!"

Arthur glared, even though he knew Merlin couldn't see him, and walked to him, tumbling a few times before he hit another body.

"Oi! What are you doing?" Merlin complained, and pushed him away.

"I hate you" Arthur said.

"Well, I hate you too" Merlin snapped back. "The power still hasn't been turned back, that's weird. Maybe we really should try to get out." Merlin sighed, and, holding himself by placing one hand on the wall, he managed to walk to the door.

He tried to open it, and frowned when it wouldn't open. He tried a few more times, before giving up.

"What on earth are you doing? It's not that hard to open a door!" Arthur groaned behind him, and Merlin breathed in heavily.

"It's locked you prat!"

"Of course not, you're just an idiot" Arthur snapped before getting near him. "Move, and watch the real man open that door."

"Oh yeah, well done real man, I'm very impressed" Merlin mocked when Arthur couldn't open it either.

"Fuck, it really is locked!" Arthur cursed and Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Of course it is, I told you so two minutes ago!"

They argued for a while, making both Morgana and Gwaine roll their eyes in despair, before they couldn't hear anything anymore and frowned. They tried to lean in a bit more, and Morgana smirked and threw her fist in the air, while Gwaine cursed, when they heard kissing sounds.

"Ah!" She threw her finger in Gwaine's face.

"Kissing's not shagging!" Gwaine argued, sulking.

"No, but kissing leads to shagging!" She almost shouted, victorious.

Merlin pulled away when he heard sounds coming from the other side of the door, and Arthur only took it as a hint to start kissing his neck.

"Arthur, I think someone's right behind the door."

"And so what?" Arthur mumbled, still peppering kisses along his jaw and neck.

"Well maybe they can open the door for us", Merlin sighed, grabbing Arthur's hair when he started to go down his torso.

"And why" Arthur said, pulling away from Merlin's body to be eye to eye again, "would we want to get out?"

"Isn't that what we're trying to do since the power was cut?" Merlin shrugged.

"Maybe, but I think there are things more fun to do in the dark and trying to open a door." Arthur smirked, capturing Merlin's lips again. "Don't you agree?"

Arthur saw Merlin's eyes narrow slightly before he was kissed fiercely and pushed back on the couch, Merlin straddling him.

"Maybe" Merlin admitted. "But then you'd better be the best shag of my life".

"Oh don't worry, Merlin" Arthur grinned. "I will."

* * *

When all they could hear were moans and pants, Morgana turned to face Gwaine and allowed herself a little victory dance.

"Ahah! See, see, they're shagging! So, tell me Gwaine dear, who won, uh? Will you admit my superiority now? Go on and kneel for your Queen!"

"Ah! As if I'd ever kneel for you! You're not a Queen, you're a devil! And should I remind you, my dear Morgana, that this bet was in two parts? Granted, you won the first, they shagged today. But if Arthur admits he likes Merlin in two weeks, I win. You said a month, remember?"

"Of course I remember" she snorted. "But don't worry, I know my brother better than you do. A month it will be. And you know what, I push the bet even further. I say a month exactly, day for day. We're on November 25th, right? I bet Arthur will admit the truth on December 25th. Winning this bet will be a nice Christmas present, don't you think?" She winked, and walked away, laughing.

* * *

 _I hope you liked it, and as you might have guessed, the next part of that story will be on Christmas' Day !_


	24. Chapter 24

**Christmas' Eve/Last minute gift**

Arthur was in hurry. Really, why did he always have to wait for the very last day to think of buying gifts? It was the same thing every damn year, and he was done with it. Swearing that next year, he would buy Christmas gifts at least four months before Christmas, he looked in his bags again, trying to figure out if he had everything. He had bought something for his father, for his step-mother Catrina – "The Troll", as he and Morgana were used to calling her, and… Morgana! He had nothing for his sister.

Cursing he reached a small bookshop and entered, deciding that Morgana could do with a book. Maybe he'd even buy two. Still, he didn't know which books he would actually buy, and since he really was in hurry –he had to be at his father's in less than three hours and it was at almost two hours from here –he decided to ask the man behind the counter for advice.

The said man looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi! Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a book" Arthur answered, and the man chuckled.

"Yeah, that's usually what people are looking for in a bookshop."

Arthur rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for this. "Look, I'm late, I need a gift for my sister, and I really don't have much time, so stop mocking me, move your ass and go fetch me one or two books that she will like, and hurry for God's sake!"

The man raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, not moving at all. "No." He said calmly, and Arthur let out a frustrated noise.

"And why not?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"Well first of all because I'm not your fucking dog! You have no right to talk to me that way. Besides, in case it didn't cross your mind, I don't know what your sister likes, so if you want advice on books, you need to come with me to choose them. And finally, I'm not moving because you're an arse and you can crawl before I go and fetch you books like you had thrown a fucking stick at me and I was bringing it back. I told you, not a dog."

Arthur groaned and ran a hand through his hair. True, he might have been a bit harsh. "Alright, I'm sorry, okay? But I really need help and I don't have time to go to another shop, so will you please help me?"

The man rolled his eyes, sighed, but eventually nodded, and Arthur grinned at him. "Great!"

"So, what does she like?"

"What?"

"Your sister, what kind of books does she like?" The man repeated, slowly, as if Arthur was dumb.

"Uh… How would I know?"

The man sighed again, and Arthur was pretty sure he wanted to hit his face with his palm at Arthur's stupidity. "You want to buy her a book, but you have no idea what kind of books she reads?"

Arthur bit his lip. "Uh… Yes?"

"Great. Look, I can't do miracles, okay? If you have no hint for me, I can't possibly find something she will like. Sorry."

The man shrugged, gave him an apologetic look and went back behind his counter. Arthur sighed, and tried to think of something else that could please Morgana. Then, he ran back to the man.

"Okay, I have another idea!"

"Cool" The man answered. "So, good luck and goodbye then."

"Actually I'd still need your help."

The man frowned, and made a sign for him to go on.

"Well, see, my sister is always blaming me for being reckless and unable to settle down, and what would really please her is for me to present her a boyfriend. Point is, I don't have a boyfriend. So, if you could just…"

"Oh, if I could just give up all my plans, my family, and everything to follow some prat who insulted me to some house to meet his sister and pretend to be his lifelong boyfriend? Sure, what better way of spending Christmas?" The man snapped, rolling his eyes, and Arthur bit his lip. "Besides, what tells you I'm gay?"

"Oh please, I know you are, it's obvious." Arthur answered, and the man snorted.

"Still doesn't mean you're my type. And it definitely doesn't mean I'm going to follow you anywhere. Find someone else to give your sister a cheap and fake present. And really, it's not even a present."

Arthur sighed and turned away to leave the shop, when he suddenly stopped and faced the man again. "Look, you said it, you don't know her. I do. This is exactly the kind of presents she loves." He paused, before adding "What exactly are your plans for tonight, uhhh…"

"Merlin" The man sighed. "And if you really must know, I'm spending Christmas with my mum."

"Only your mum?"

Merlin shrugged. "Why? Are people not allowed to have a small family? It doesn't fit your fake boyfriend's standards, maybe?"

Arthur grinned and leaned against the counter "What if I invite both you and your mum to spend Christmas with my family? Would you do it, then?"

"No."

Arthur snorted. "Your loss, Merlin. I know you didn't recognize me, but I'm Arthur Pendragon."

"The son of the richest man in London?" Merlin asked, sounding unimpressed.

Arthur nodded. "And if my father thinks you and I are serious, he might want to give something to your mum. And since you're working in such a place, I guess she could do with it"

Merlin's eyes widened, and his jaw tightened, making Arthur gulp. "You want to buy me? Are you even serious? I don't fucking care about yours or you father's money, you utter prat! I'd rather crawl up the streets than get anything from you!"

Arthur sighed, he really wasn't opting for the best strategy here. "Okay, fine, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to suggest that… Anyway, look, I really really need a boyfriend!"

"Then get a real one! Though I can understand why no one would want you" Merlin snorted.

"And" Arthur added, ignoring Merlin's comments. "I really, really like you. Which is why I'm asking you. I swear I'm not that bad, I'm just really bad at these kind of things, but I can be nice! I won't pay anything for you, I won't give anything to your mother, but please Merlin, just one night? And if you still hate me tomorrow, I swear I'll never talk to you again, and I'll never step in your shop again. Come on, be nice! Please?"

Arthur looked at him with big eyes, and Merlin sighed. He hated himself for being so weak, and he hated his mother for giving him her too big heart.

"Fine" He sighed, still glaring. "But I'm telling the truth to my mum." Arthur nodded. "And don't you dare even think about making up embarrassing stories about me" He pointed his finger in Arthur's face, who nodded again. "Right, I'm done here in an hour."

"Actually it'd be better if we leave in thirty minutes, we need to be there in.. Alright, an hour's perfect" Arthur gulped at Merlin's glare.

He sat down on a stool, and smiled to himself. It didn't go that bad after all, and maybe having Merlin as a fake boyfriend would be more a gift to himself than to Morgana in the end, but he couldn't bring himself to care.


End file.
